The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 291: Coffee with Mom—America's Grandmother is Done with Christmas Cards

Episode Date: December 20, 2022

It's another Christmas extravaganza featuring three-time New York Times bestselling author Peggy Rowe, a.k.a. Mike's mom.  Now with less potty mouth!  Peggy explains why she and Chuck conspired to keep a secret from Mike.  

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Welcome to episode number 291 of the way I heard it. And just like that, another year is behind us. My guest on this very special episode is the one and only Peggy Row. And it's entitled, America's Grandmother is done with Christmas Cards. She is. Because she is, Chuck. She's done. She's had it.

Last year, she had all kinds of treats she made and gave to people. And this year, she's like, I don't have time for this. Every time a Christmas card comes in the mail, she and John are like, ooh, we got another one. Here's another one. What's wrong with people? For as long as I've known my mother, she's been making Christmas treats and she sends out Christmas cards. And in this episode of the podcast, I learn, among other things, that deep down, I think she's always hated it. It seemed that way.

Yeah. I just think that, you know, after decades and decades of doing this, she's entered into this phase of her life, where she'll be 85 years old next month, and she's busier than she's ever been. And she's finally looked around, and she's taken stock. And she's seeing some fat that could be trimmed from the daily realities of her life. And this time of year, it's just so funny to hear her say it,

but she's like, Michael, time is so precious, and it's limited, and I have things I want to do. And you know what's not on that list? Sending Christmas cards. So I'm not doing it. And good for her. You know what? Good for her.

I love that. I love that she's prioritizing her life and doing what she wants to do and not doing something just out of obligation. Yeah. And what she wants to do is entertain people. She wants to feed another kind of audience with another kind of treat. And so the woman is just a writing machine. She hasn't stopped now in 65 years.

I wanted to talk to my mom here at the end of the year. because we did this last year, and it was a lot of fun. It was great. A Cornhole Christmas is the episode. You can still listen if you want to go back in time. But if you want to stay here in the present, you can listen to my mom, reflect upon the success of her latest book, which we've posted here on the platform. It's official. It's a success.

People love listening to my mom reading her books. And lo and behold, Chuck, the woman loves to read her books. And so the logical thing to do with this day and all the days before her is to focus on the focus on the wood that matters, the more important wood, as Robert Frost would say. And that's not treats and that's not Christmas cards. That's doing what she was put on this earth to do. So I'm pleased to report that that's what we learned at the end of our conversation. What we learned at the beginning was the fact that you, my friend, are a liar and my mother and you together have conspired to keep something from me, which you, gentle listener, will learn about with all due speed.

Anything else you want to add, Chuck, before we throw to our first unbelievably generous sponsor? Well, I just would like to say that I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you something. It's a lie of omission, maybe, but, you know, had you asked me, I would have come clean. But I didn't. Okay. We'll unpack all that and more momentarily. It's the last episode of the year number 291.

The guest is my mother, Peggy Rowe. She is America's grandmother. And this is the true story of how and why America's grandmother is done with Christmas cards. And it all starts right after this. Well, people are still raving, raving, I tell you, about my mother's performance in the latest Pure Talk commercial. And if you haven't seen it, I encourage you to give it a look on my Facebook page and read the comments. They're hysterical. In this commercial, you'll not only see Peggy Roe gently criticizing her oldest son for his longstanding and well-established commitment issues,

you'll learn about the latest offer from Pure Talk, which includes unlimited talk, text, and data. for just $3499 a month with no contracts and no commitments of any kind. You can see why I love these guys. If, on the other hand, you have better things to do with your time, then watch my mom and me be impossibly charming together, then allow me to remind you, here, without all the cleverness and charm, that unlimited talk, text, and data on a blazing fast network for just $34.99 a month really is an unmitigated bargain

from an American wireless company that keeps all their customer service in this country, supports our veterans in a meaningful way, as well as the MicroWorks Foundation, and allows me to exploit my own mother in a national advertising campaign. Do what my mom did. Get yourself unlimited high-speed data for just $3499 a month at puretalk.com slash row. You can switch in as little as 10 minutes at puretalk.com slash row. Pure Talk I'm satisfied with Mike's volume

I hope Ross is Ross are you? Yes, I got the thumbs up great Okay great And now whose phone is that going on It's not mine Whose phone is going as well? Oh, it's vibrating That's what's happening

I'll put it on another table Fortunately I'd turn the ringer off Yeah that's we can still hear that You can't hear it now can you No I totally can hear it yes Oh right now can be done until it stops. It's all Chuck will be able to focus on.

Okay, I'll put it under the desk in a basket. Perfect. Why don't you turn it off? Oh, you mean like completely turn it off? Well, you could put it on airplane mode. You don't have to wrap it up like a Christmas gift. Because dad might call me. You never know.

Let's see. Well, what is the policy? We should establish this right at the very top. If dad calls while we're talking, what do we do? A, ignore it. Put them on speaker. B, put it on speaker. Yes.

See? Just listen to it vibrate. If I put it on airplane mode, it won't vibrate? No. Okay, I'll put it on air. Okay. Now, just remember when we're done, I'll try to remind you. Thank you.

Turn off airplane mode. So you can prop it up next to the computer. And if he calls, you'll see that he's calling. You'll see it. And if the conversation is dragging or if you feel like you'd need a break, then you can always talk. to your husband instead of us. I think he's downstairs shooting pool.

I hope so. He does that a lot, doesn't he? Just about every day. That's what he was doing last year when we had this conversation. Was he? He does. He shoots pool every day. Usually we'll play a game or two after dinner.

And then his friends play at one o'clock. Sometimes he joins them. But this morning he was down in the wood shop. What's he working on now? Do we know? Well, he made a bowl, but there was a defect in the wood. And so a chunk fell out. So there's a round hole in the side. And he's calling that a soup spoon holder, a spoon holder. You know what you have there, mom? You got yourself a collectible. Got yourself a one-of-a-kind John Roe collectible. Very rare. A bowl with a hole in it. Well, it's a scooped out hole at the top, really. It's and arch shape. I should have brought it in. Could you use it to pour it out?

I could, yeah, as a spout. A spout, that's what I was thinking. Possibly. I'll remember that. Well, the possibilities are endless. Mom, I think the podcast has officially begun. It's lovely to see you during the awkward mic testing portion of the program. I heard you telling Chuck about your recent calamity.

And I made reference to it in a Facebook post, but I think people are curious to know what happened. Have you healed? Your lip appears to have returned to normal. You know, I was walking across the living room from one end to the other. And suddenly, I was heading for the floor and there was nothing I could do about it. That split second when you realize that your feet have stopped and your head hasn't, it's really scary. Yeah.

So I hit the floor and I have an implant. tooth right in the front and it went right through my lip, left a hole in the outside. And I had bruising in my chest and my knees were blue. It wasn't nice. So I called Dad. It knocked the air right out of me. It was a couple of seconds before I could even call. So he came in and took care of the situation, got me some ice, several different ice pads, and I lay down on the bed and then Chuck called. What do you mean different ice pads?

Different styles of ice pads? She needed ice pads for the lip, for the knee, for the chest. Yeah, there was a lot, right? Right, exactly, Chuck. You got that. It's very disturbing to hear stories about your elderly mother

falling face first in their apartment. Your teeth going through your lip, the bruising, all of this stuff. But equally disturbing is the phone call that I recently learned you got moments afterwards where you're lying in bed from Chuck? Yes, he was calling, I think about this podcast, weren't you, Chuck?

Yes, I was calling to check your availability to when we could record, yes. Yes. And what happened? Well, it was hard to talk with that ice bag on my face, and then my lip was getting bigger and bigger and bigger. You did have a bit of a lisp, as it were. I didn't pronounce initial consonants very well. And also another thing that happened that I wasn't aware of right away is that it loosened a crown on my bottom left side.

And the crown was knocked off and the remaining tooth beneath, which is just small, was knocked right off, was broken off. So I have to get another implant. Oh, God, Mom. Either that or walk around with a hole in my... All right. Just to bring this back to me for a moment. All right. I hear this story from you roughly 36 hours later.

I try to FaceTime you the next day and you won't pick up the phone because your face is misshapen and you don't want me to see you. And I can't put any of this together until I finally get you on the phone and you tell me you had a fall. You walk through the whole thing. Tooth goes through your lip. You're all puffed up. It's a disaster. You're in bed. You're bruised.

You're miserable. And then you told me you told you. you told Chuck about this the day before. And the two of you decide, for reasons I still don't understand, not to tell me. Right. Well, I didn't tell your brothers either because what could you do about it except worry? I was just following orders. Yes, you were. She told me not to tell you. She didn't want to worry you. Well, all right, look, did you out of the blue tell Chuck not to tell me you had fallen on your face and knocked your teeth out? Or did Chuck say, should we tell Mike?

And you said, no, let's not worry him. Who started the deception? How deep does the conspiracy go? I think I probably said something like, I won't tell anybody. I can answer this if you don't mind. I believe you said, Peggy, don't tell Mike. I don't want to worry him. Oh, that's what it was.

How could I forget? And I was like, oh, okay. If you insist. And then 36 hours later, I get a call from Mike going, and thanks a lot for telling me about my mom falling. Yeah, I mean, somewhere in the last day or two, the entire hierarchy in my organization has changed. Chuck doesn't work for me.

He doesn't work for MicroWorks. He's not the producer of the podcast anymore. He works for Peggy Row. And he just does your bidding on. I try to remember that, Mike. Yeah, well, believe me, I will. Well, listen. If I had fallen on the coffee table, the lovely coffee table that your father made for me, it would have been a different story.

I would have been talking to Chuck in the hospital because there's a sharp. And we still would have kept it from you. Yes. Where's mom? Nowhere. She's fine. I talked to her. She was good.

She moved to a farm upstate. Skying. Don't worry about it. She's skiing. So you missed the corner of that coffee table that dad made in the law. wood shop by like an inch, the sharp corner of the table. By inches, yeah. I was really fortunate.

And listen, it was a wake-up call. I was hurrying. I wasn't paying attention to where my feet were. You better believe I picked my feet up very high now when I'm going on to that carpet. It's an area rug, a room-sized area rug. I've taken up all the other scatter rugs because they tell you when you move in that they are such a danger. especially to older people. They're so easy to trip on.

Yeah, they're tripwires. They're landmines around your apartment. Everything in the apartment is taking on a component of a dangerous thing, right? You just have to look at everything differently, from rugs to coffee tables to, God, all of it. It's worrisome. Well, this is true. Makes me want to cover up the four corners of the coffee table with foam rubber. Do it.

How attractive was it. that thing. Got a child proof the apartment. Yeah. You've got to wrap yourself in bubble pack, really. Senior proof, the apartment. Oh, well, enough about me. Oh, look, it's not just about you.

It's about me and Chuck and all of your listeners. You know, we're here to discuss the incredible success of your audio book. We just have to get past the visual of America's grandmother face down in her apartment, spitting out her teeth, you know, and then. conspiring with my producer to keep it from me. I just want to establish that before we get on to the next topic at hand. But the two of you together are liars. Well, that's kind of extreme, Mike.

The funny part is, we haven't even discussed that. Your father was on the phone when I fell. And when I finally was able to get enough breath into my lungs to summon him and call, John, John, help me. He said, oh, okay. wait a minute, and he finished his phone conversation, and he came in. And he was very upset, of course. Oh, what's wrong? What's wrong? And then the phone rang again. He said, wait a minute. And he answered the phone again, because it was really an important call that he'd

been waiting for, but he didn't talk long. Oh, well, there you go. He might have gone for ice while he was talking. That's a secret to 62 years of marriage, knowing when to take the call and when not to take the call. Yes, your wife's face down. Yes, she can barely talk. Sure, there's blood. There's a tooth sticking through her upper lip. But there's a telemarketer with important, you know, important information to share. I've got some encyclopedias. That's a really good offer. Honey, I'll be right there. But they're selling windows at a discount. God. Okay. On to the real purpose of this. mom. If I haven't told you, our little experiment was a huge success. Your book was downloaded well over a million times, listened to by, I don't know how many people. I assume Chuck has been

giving you the feedback since you two are deeply embroiled now in all levels of conspiracy and communication. But Chuck, if you'd like to bring my mom up to speed, if you have any information you haven't shared regarding this experiment. Tell her now, because not to overstate it, but it was a raging success. Well, we heard from so many fans. The biggest thing that I heard, the one that was repeated the most on all of the posts and on all of the reviews was thank you. People were thanking us and thanking you, thanking us for putting your book on and thanking you for doing it. I did compile a few questions and statements from people, one of which from Jeff Nelson who said, if she needs another career, she would be a great recorder of audiobooks. And that's

certainly true. That was very nice. Yeah, but don't gloss over that because, Mom, you were really in your head about this initially, right, when you read your first book and you were worried. You were worried about your voice. You hate the way you sound. Like most people do, but I'm telling you, Chuck's right. Everybody who I know who's listened to your book, they want you to read them bedtime stories. Oh, that's so nice to hear. You're right. When I first listened to this book, this audio book, I was shocked at how old I sounded.

I sound like, I thought I sounded like an old woman. However, I think to be able to read one's own. memoir is such a privilege because nobody knows the story like I do. I know how things went down and I think I can convey that in my reading. You know, I found it fun. It was fun to do. Yeah, well, good because I know you hated it initially. And because, wait, there's more. You haven't recorded your second book, which I loved about your father. You have recorded your first, one, but we're still trying to figure out the wise and where for us, but I think we can put them both up on the podcast later this year if you're up for it. People are screaming for it, and when

people scream, you ignore them at your peril. So if we can get you back into the booth, we should. I'd be happy to. I think it would be fun. It was not done because of COVID. I believe the recording studio might even have closed for a while. In fact, remember, we were really up in the air about whether to even publish the book in 2020 because COVID was raging. You couldn't promote it. Yeah, we promoted it doing this, you know, and we had no idea of Zoom. Remember, we had the Zoom things where you read, you know, book events instead of live book events. And people couldn't go to bookstores and libraries and look at the bookstores.

and look at the book and hold it. Now that I think about it, your second book really got short shrift. You know, the first one was a big deal because it was the first one. The second one I think a lot of people don't even know about. The third one is huge

and continues to be huge right now, but we should circle back, record the second one, and do it again if you're down for it. We're up for it. Oh, I would love to do it. As a matter of fact, somebody stopped me the other day. And they said, Peggy,

I'm reading your second book. I've read the other two, and this is my favorite. Well, they know John. They know your father. And they said, listen, it really did hit home. It was right on. You captured John to a T, they said. And more than one person has said to me,

oh, I loved the part about the wood stove, the story about the wood stove, and how your father was, it was so funny when we put that wood stove in. Anyway, there is a story in the book about that. He was crazy. He was crazy. Chuck, this stove, like once we got it in, it became, like, there was a fireplace that it, but what are you doing, mom? Is it jingle bells? What's happening? I was trying to get to my book. Oh, okay, go ahead. She brought some props, you know, some jingle bell. for festive season to go with that red sweater. So there was a fireplace in the family room that my dad and granddad had built,

and that was sort of the focal point where we all sat, watched TV, and always had a fire. And then my dad realized we could save on heating bills if we put a giant black cast iron wood stove in front of the fireplace. So they hooked this whole thing up. His brother, Rob, made these things. Brilliant, welder.

Anyhow, once that thing got put in, man, it was a whole different deal. I remember. It was always on, at least in the winter, and it threw an extraordinary amount of heat. An amazing amount of heat. It was like an oven in the house. It was like standing in front of a hair dryer sometime. You couldn't believe it. And if you touched it, forget it.

It would fuse your fingers together. I mean, it was just burning, burning hot and radiated all this heat. and dad was so excited he would get a thermometer like a, you know, and walk around the house, room to room. Michael, can I read this short passage? Yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead.

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Get good ranchers now. E-Ha! Nothing achieved family participation Quite like the wood stove. Not even monopoly, Sorry, or 500 rummy. From gathering logs, splitting and stacking them,

to feeding the stove's insatiable appetite And shoveling out the ashes, There were plenty of chores to go around. My husband was like a child on Christmas morning, those first few weeks. With the new wood stove roaring, he walked through the house morning and night, holding a thermometer high in the air,

with one hand and carrying a notebook in the other. In each room, he paused to record times and temperatures. I know this sounds incredible, but it is true everywhere. Oh, I know. I swear to God, it's true. Peg, light a candle and come upstairs with me, he said, late one frigid January night. I want to see if the heat's getting up there. John, we'll wake the kids.

Nah, come on. He led the way up the steps while holding the thermometer high, with me following close behind with a candle, looking for all the world like a religious procession on a high holy day. It's freezing up here, I whispered. Look, Michael's wearing his coat in bed. John, is the child even breathing? Well, of course he's breathing. You can see his breath.

He pointed to the little puffs of white cumulus clouds coming from our son's nostrils. It was only a matter of time until child protective services would come knocking at our door. Suddenly, Mike's eyes popped open, and he bolted upright. Well, what are you guys doing? Just taking some readings, son, go back to sleep. Jeez, Dad, I thought you were the Statue of Liberty. Is that you, Mom? Don't drip candle wax on my homework.

The teacher already thinks we don't have electricity. She told me twice I smell like a wood fire. You didn't turn off the electricity, did you? Go back to sleep, son. John checked the thermometer and made notes in his book. Downstairs while I topped off the water in the heavy black iron pot on the stove, he checked our little weather station, then recorded the temperature. humidity and air pressure on a chart on the refrigerator door. And it goes on like that. It was a wonderful time.

Oh my God, it's so true. You know what I can't remember is that period of time. Like, could have been six months. Could have been six years. It seemed like forever. But there were so many weird little things that had to be done in the house as a result of heating it this way. You know, never mind the fact that the temperature itself, was different in each room. But the humidity, the reason there was a black kettle, always on the top of the stove, filled with water, is because it was constantly boiling off. But it was humidifying the air at the same time. Because if you didn't do that, your lips would crack and your skin would crack. And your hair would turn brittle because there was just no moisture in the air at all.

Listen, the following morning, my husband was at it again. Listen to this, Scott, he said as our son came down the steps wrapped in a blanket. It was 70 degrees in the kitchen and 65 degrees in the living room at 7 a.m. At 7 p.m. last night, it was 81 degrees in the kitchen and 73 degrees in the living room. How about that? Well, it's 32 degrees upstairs and my nose hairs are frozen, stiffer than icicles. How about that, Scott said? That's why they make blankets, John told him.

The dog slept on top of me, and I was still cold. Scott replied, Hmm, John said, winking at me. Maybe it's time to get another dog, hon. Scott's brother came down the stairs behind him. Hey, the toilet bowl looks like a skating pond, dad. Is it okay to flush? No, Phil, Scott said.

We'll have to wait for the spring fall. It's true. I had my, if I had a cup of water up there in that back bedroom, there were mornings where it's like, Jesus, it's 30 degrees. It's freezing. It's freezing cold in the house. How is it colder on the second floor than the first? Oh, because the heat source is at the far end of the kitchen.

And we eventually put a fan in the wall above the doorway that led to the stairway upstairs. Gotcha. But really, you only get so much. heat to go up. Most of it stayed in the kitchen. That's why it was like 100 degrees in the kitchen and 32 upstairs. It was all backwards, but it was all driven by parsimony, you know, basic thrift. And it's not like we didn't have a furnace that ran on oil. It's not like we didn't have electricity, but the minute we got the wood stove, we didn't need any of that. Now, of course we needed it. But in my dad's mind, it's like, no, what's the point getting a wood stove if you're

still going to use electricity, which is such a funny way of, a reductive way of thinking about progress. You know, you get this, why do you need that? So we were devolving. We were going backwards toward the Stone Age for like a decade there. But it was pretty great. I mean, he was still wringing out paper towels at that time, as I recall. Yeah, there are a lot of stories. And they're in this second book. And like I say, people who know your father really love the second book. So funny. Well, we'll record it for sure. I'd be happy to.

All right, well, good. Chuck, I just want to get to a couple questions because I have hundreds of them on this end and I don't even want to bother with them because I know you have the same ones. But every time we put up a chapter, Mom, it was like the Facebook page went bananas. So Chuck, throw a few out if you can.

I don't have my glasses on. By the way, Mom, did you see my shirt? It says, wash your hands. Bro. Bro. Bro. I wore it for you because your favorite episode of Dirty Jobs that just aired this week was the soap cleaners. And they gave me this shirt.

Oh, yes, yes. That was really nice. And it goes back to your dad's thrift because they showed all of those little slivers of soap being saved and recycled. And that's what your dad still does to this day. I'll give him a whole bar of soap, but he has to save the little sliver from the previous bar. and he fuses it to the new bar so he can have two slivers, one on the bottom and one on the top.

I used to pull them off and throw him away because it's awkward to wash your hands. But he has his own bathroom, and I have mine, so whatever happens in his bathroom, stays in his bathroom. God, if only that were true. But it was a good episode.

I enjoyed it. Just so you understand, Chuck, what she's saying, the soap gets down to like these paper-thin, little sliver. and then she throws them away. She throws them in the trash where he can't get at them, except he does.

He goes through the trash. He pulls out these pieces of soap that barely still exist from the bar they once were. And then he fuses them to new pieces. And so now the soap just looks like this weird, shapeless blob of stuff. And he just can't throw anything out. But like you say, you've got separate bathrooms now, so he can have fun with his soap. You know, you can do whatever you do in the bathroom.

Yes. It's good. Sorry to interrupt them. That's okay. I want to read this from Barnabas McReynolds. No way. What a great name. No way.

Barnabas McReynolds. That's what it says. As a truck driver, it can be difficult to make time to read a book. I carved out time in many a day just to read through the way I heard it, many days. Having America's grandma read her book to me is priceless. Thank you, Mike, for bringing this happiness to the world. and thank you, Grandma Peggy. Your wit and creativity with words

makes your books entertaining enough for my 13-year-old to devour two. But of course, Barnabas hadn't gotten to Chapter 14 when you dropped the F-bomb at this point. I was quoting. I was quoting something. I know you were. It caused quite a ruckus, though.

And I'll tell you, it threw me for a loop because, you know, I listened to all the episodes to make sure everything's okay. And when I heard that, it snapped my neck. I was like, what? It did the same thing at the recording studio because I read it so casually. And I had to stop because the guys got to laughing who were, you know, what do they call? Not engineers.

Engineers. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Engineers. Yeah. What was the sentence again? How exactly?

No. This is your Christmas show, Mike. I'm not going to say that word. Well, last year's Christmas show was full of. I had to bleep like five times. Yeah, we're not going to be able to top it. If you're new to the podcast, listen to my mother's conversation with us last year for Christmas.

It's called a cornhole Christmas. People ask me about it all of the time. We set the bar pretty high. We're pretty low, I suppose. Depending on how you look at it. How cool, Mom. A truck driver, a long-distance truck driver listening to vacuuming in the nude

as he makes his way across the house. Isn't that nice? Yeah. And it's so nice that he would take the time to write that comment. It really means a lot. A lot of people did. And like I said, that was the number one thing that I read over and over again was thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for doing it. And so many people commented.

And listen, when I first started listening to it, I told Mike, I called Mike to say, your mom is really good. I mean, you really are. You have a very soothing voice. You're very articulate. I could listen to you read all day. And a lot of people said that exact same thing. And you hate everything. I do.

Michael, don't interrupt Chuck when he's talking. Go ahead, Chuck. I want to read another question. This is addressed to Mike from Lynn Petrick. And it says, which is more disturbing to you, your mom's potty mouth or her vacuuming attire? Or non-attire. Yeah. Obviously, the real night.

air scenario is the combination of both. Oh my gosh. Naked mom, pushing the vacuum around, dropping F bombs all over the place. Now, tripping over the rug and knocking her teeth out. You know, the whole image is untenable. Blood, obscenity, and nudity all unfolding over there at Oakrest. Not to change the subject, but I did an appearance this week. I spoke at a corporate event out of state. and it was just a few days after my accident.

So I was all jacked up on painkillers when I went. And I was very enthusiastic. I think everybody said they really enjoyed my presentation. But my concern was that my lip was still going to be real fat, but it diminished to an acceptable size for the occasion. So it went okay, but I was really worried that. that it wouldn't. All right, go ahead. No, no, no, no, back up.

Corporate event. Okay, so these are words that have never come out of your mouth before. Now that you've become a best-selling author and now that people hear you telling your stories, they're reaching out to my office to book you for public speaking events. And this, too, I know, is a whole brand new kind of frontier for you. So just take a moment and describe it. Do you actually enjoy it? Are you relieved when it's over? Now what's it feel like to stand up there?

Puffy lips notwithstanding telling stories from the old days. Well, I started doing this four years ago speaking mostly about my books. But it's changed a little bit. I'm there because of my books, but my topics are a little bit broader than they used to be. I have to tell you I used to almost dread it and worry about it, you know, and the adrenaline was just raging.

This is the first time I realized I was looking forward to it. It was, I love the people. They're so enthused. And when I'm speaking to them, they look at me, they nod, they relate to what I'm saying, and they laugh.

I mean, who doesn't love it when their audience is engaged? It doesn't get any better. In fact, they have to tell me to sit down and shut up. I used to worry, oh, I don't know if I have enough to say the last 45 minutes or a half hour. And now I tell them right up front. I say, look, when you've had enough to stand up and tell me it's time to stop talking because there is just so much material.

The short answer is, I do enjoy it. Well, did somebody actually stand up and tell you to shut up? No, but the owner of the company, I had said to him previously, you let me know when it's time for me to stop because I know you're on a schedule because they had other events scheduled. And nobody said anything.

So I went on. And during a long time, a man did stand up, and he had introduced himself to me earlier as the owner of the company. And he said, oh, Peggy, I wonder if you'd be willing to do a Q&A. And I said, of course I would. And that was his way of saying, shut up. Shut up. And he did it very nicely.

Yeah, I've been in situations where they simply turn the house lights up or down, depending. Or turn your mic off. Yeah, that's a good one too. Where they just walk out on stage. Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it from... Like, I'm in the middle of a story, damn it. That hasn't happened yet. Funny.

All right, Chuck, you were saying. Yes. Kylie Gore wrote, My kids love your mom's book in the way she reads it. Sorry, Mike. They cheer when it's her book, but groan when it's your regular interview. Me, I love it all.

But the last two chapters made me have to scramble for the pause between the sex talks and the bad language. Peggy, you got to include a warning if you're going to get more risque than PG. Now, in fairness, when you drop the F-bomb, Mike and I had a conversation earlier, it's like, do we put a warning on there? And we actually did. We put adult content. I didn't want to quack you. I didn't want to believe. I think that was in chapter 14. Yes. And 15 and 16 are the last two chapters. And what she's referring to there is probably my medical story. the story of John's hernia and hydrocile and the story of my prolapse. And I get rather graphic, but it's tastefully done, I think.

Oh, yeah. But it was so filled with humor, I just couldn't not do it. No, it's rare to hear words like scrotum and uterus presented in such a tasteful way. You're right. Yeah. Such a tasteful way as eggplant. plant. But you know what? It is a fair question, Mom. You've got this Miss Marple kind of aggressively g-rated sensibility about you, and you've always had it. But I think the reason your books have all done

well, and the reason people go out of their way to ask you questions and stay engaged is because you write about real life and true things, you know, and it's not always, it's not always warm or fuzzy or pleasant. And we've talked, too, about all the stories you could write that would probably go into, you know, a whole other area that would be awkward to talk about. But I'm curious, as you get older, do you care less about the occasional broken egg?

Or are you going to stay in your sweet little old lady lane? Or are you going to bust out with truth bombs and whatnot? I think I will. Stay sweet, little old lady, and be proper. I think my readers expect that. However, I want to be relatable too. And when I told the story of prolapse, my GYN told me that 50% of women over the age of 50 experience that phenomenon. So we're talking about your bladder

Yeah falling out your hoo-hop Yes Mm-hmm And so women find that very relatable But I wrote it in such a way That anybody could enjoy it

But I don't know if enjoy is the right word This is where we call Jamie Buckley-chuk The Illustrator And say, hey, we're going to take things in a slightly different direction So sharpen your pencils, brother Oh my gosh.

Shameless plug. Long before she was Peggy Roe, my mom was Peggy Noble, daughter of Carl and Thelma Noble. It was her father, Carl, who inspired me to pitch a show called Dirty Jobs to the Discovery Channel, and later start a foundation that honored the kind of work Carl Noble did for a living, trade work, skilled labor. That foundation is called MicroWorks,

And today I'm proud to tell you that we've helped thousands of people get the training they need to begin a career in the skilled trades. In fact, we'd love to help you. You can apply for a work ethic scholarship right now at microwworks.org. We've set aside $10 million for this year's applicants. Thanks to a number of very effective fundraisers, including the one with my grandfather's name on the label. I refer, of course, to Noble Tennessee Whiskey, K-N-O-B-E-L, which is now available. in a variety of delicious mash bills, all of which you can peruse at noblespirates.com. In fact, if you spend $100 and use code Carl, C-A-R-L, you'll get one tube of orange-bitter-infused sugar cubes for free.

That's code Carl with a C to get nine sugar cubes, ingeniously engineered to make nine perfect old-fashions every time. It's my favorite way to support Microworks and my favorite whiskey to say. sip responsibly after a long day of interviewing people on this podcast. Pick up a bottle at noblespirits.com. K-N-O-B-E-L-Spirits.com. Soon may the noble men come to bring a bottle for everyone. One day when the waitin is done, we'll take a drink and go. Well, it's life, it's real life.

I mean, and not to be too graphic, I think adults can handle. that terminology? I think they can. I haven't thought much about the similarities between Dirty Jobs and your particular style of writing, but I think underneath both of them is an attempt to be honest, to show a thing for what it is.

I mean, tenor and tone and style and all that stuff come into play, but underneath of it, there's a relatability. Like the soap thing, right? Everybody uses soap, but not everybody has, hangs on to it until it's down to the size of a dime, right? In my story, you know, our soap was about hotel soap, which is just the opposite, soap that's used only once. You know, what do you do with all of that soap? It's millions of tons of soap. So a good dirty job starts with a relatable

question. A good chapter in any of your books starts with a relatable question. And the fact that 50% of women over a certain age are dealing with a prolapse. I didn't know that. You know, I bet most men have no idea. And I bet 50% of women have no idea either, you know, the ones that haven't experienced. You're going about your life and all of a sudden your major organs start leaking out. That's a big deal. We started with a trip and a fall.

Who among us hasn't fallen? Sometimes the seriousness or the circumstances are mortal, mortal stakes. Other times, it's the funniest thing you've ever seen. Watching people fall can be hysterical. And so all these different possibilities, you know, so many different ways to talk about everything, from runaway bladders to slips and falls, to what you do with soap.

And your take on all of that stuff, well, people dig it. Well, I have learned so much from social media. I mean, I went into it kicking and screaming and just feeling nauseated about it. However, I have learned so much from my followers. I mean, hundreds of thousands of people are hungry for something uplifting, something positive, something that makes them laugh. And no matter what the topic is, well, they call me a humorist. And as a humorist, I can usually find the funny side of most things.

Look, if you can find a way to make it funny as you're lying on the ground with a tooth stuck through your lip, calling for help as your husband takes a phone call. You can't hang up the phone. Yeah. Now, you know, I mean, it goes without saying, which of course is why I will say it in case somebody new here doesn't realize the extent to which John Rowe is devoted to you. He is hopelessly devoted to you. You're the center of his universe. He adores you. Chuck, my dad made it clear growing up that he loved my brothers and I, but we were a distant second, third, and fourth to my mom. Right? That's the way to do it.

To hear this story today, for me to sit here, being older than I've ever been, listening to you, tell me about this 90-year-old man, who is still hopelessly devoted to you, dealing with a phone call before he deals with you, lying, bleeding, and broken on the floor. That's just a hell of a thing. Was it because he didn't realize how hurt you were? Well, you know how hard it is to get through on some of those phone calls. By the time you finally get through, it's really hard to, you know, to cut it off. Who was he on the phone with?

Was like a cable company? I mean, really, what was it? Gali, I don't remember asking. At that point... She had other things going on at that moment. I was busy slowly bleeding out. More immediate. Trying to get my tooth through my lip back the other way.

Back into my mouth. Okay, well, so that's over now. We don't need to discuss it anymore. I'm very careful these days. You'd better be, Mom. Let's not be. Did you get rid of those rugs? Well, I still have the big area rug in the living room, nine by 12.

It seems like the room would be awfully cold without that. So you should see me now. I pick my feet up about a foot high each time I come near that carpet. You're like marching. Yeah, exactly. So that won't happen again. Can I change the topic? Yeah, sure.

I can never remember to tell Mike when I'm talking to him, But last night, no, it was this morning. While I was having breakfast, your father was at the wood shop. And I turned on the TV and I watched the show from Sunday night. Which show? The story behind this story. Oh, yeah. I thoroughly enjoyed that.

It was the one with James Earl Jones. Oh, yeah. Spoiler alert. It was so, oh. Yeah. Well, it was on. It was on. Yeah, it was on.

Yeah, but you know how the world works. Not everybody has seen it. So Chuck will be bleeping that along with whatever other. Oh, okay. But anyway, it was so enjoyable, Mike. And you talked about teachers. Your father and I were both teachers. So whenever you talk about teachers and the influence they have on your life, it really gets my attention.

And the topic. the main topic of your story, I won't say his name again, you'll just have to bleep it again. You know what? Go ahead. Who cares? Who cares? It's been out there for... James Earl Jones. Credits a teacher with his success. Had it not been for that teacher, you know? And I'm sure every teacher out there started wondering, am I influencing lives for the good, like this teacher? and you even gave his name and he gets a lot of credit these days. Teachers make the biggest difference. Donald Crouch, wasn't it?

His name is Donald Crouch, Chuck. That's right. What was amazing about that, and I hadn't even thought about it until I started discussing the story with Matt Crouch, who owns the network and is the host of the show. So here I am telling Matt Crouch about a guy named Donald Crouch who changed the life of a student named James. Earl Jones, not unlike our high school's teacher, changed our lives, you know. And so I'm really

glad you guys like it. What do you like more? Dirty Jobs or the story behind the story? Be honest. Well, you know, I'm a little bit, I like the story behind the story. I have to be honest. I like... Well, we know you don't have to always be honest. Yeah, that's for sure. And we know that you can both keep a secret. I usually am honest. Dirty jobs is a little hard to watch sometime when you're like crawling around in slime and swimming through sewage and, you know, that kind of stuff to see your son doing that. But the message is a good one and it hasn't stopped being a good message. And I still watch it. What did you think of the soap whisperer? The soap. That guy Carlos who worked for the soap company?

I mean, really, you have great characters on there. You find people ordinarily, you know, people would never know about these characters, but you bring them to light. You know that guy was homeless, Mom? Pardon? He was homeless. Yeah. The guy who owns the company brought him in. He just worked 10, 12 hours a day, unbelievable work ethic, dedicated his life to sorting soap.

And he's become an indispensable part of the operation. Carlos the soap whisper. Isn't that a good story? It's a great story, Chuck. But you know what? What actually makes it great is that we didn't know he existed on the production side. He wasn't even on the shoot list, right? Wow.

You discovered all that while you were shooting. Found him while we were shooting. Amazing. This guy just buzzing around in the background. And, you know, it's not like they were trying to keep him off camera. just that we weren't focused on him. There's a team of people sorting soap and carving soap and cutting soap. And I realized this guy is kind of doing everything a little bit. And we talked to him. And suddenly we get this story. And the whole episode kind of takes a turn. You know, so I'm only

belaboring this point a little bit, not to hijack the conversation, mom, but to say, how often do you, as a writer find yourself going in a direction with the story and then suddenly realizing, wait a second, that's not the story I'm really telling or that's not the point I thought I was going to make. And when you realize that, what do you do? Like, do you panic? Do you stick with your original plan or do you go with it? No, you go with, you follow, you know, you follow the trend. You follow what is the important story because sometimes it's not apparent to you until you've started to write it. That, wait a minute, this isn't the important part.

The important part is, I see it a lot too with my blog, my social media blog. I'll start off in one direction, and I'll realize, wait a minute, this isn't the story. The story is over here. Like the story behind the story last night, I know your main focus was James Earl Jones,

but to me, it was the teacher, maybe because of my background in education, because I have observed teachers all of my adult life. As a teacher, I had a front row seat to other teachers, and I've seen good teachers, and I've seen really not so good teachers. As a matter of fact, your younger brother, Phil, had a learning disability.

He has never achieved academically. But he was not without certain skills. And when he was in elementary school, young, he wanted to sing in the chorus. Well, he loves music and he can sing. Wanted to sing in the chorus. But because he wasn't achieving in the classroom, his teacher said,

you can't be in the course. You haven't finished your class work. You haven't gotten good grades in this class work. You can't be in the chorus. What an awful thing to do to prevent somebody from achieving what they can achieve. In fact, another book,

another story. If I can find this year. I wrote a story about my mother and how she bragged about her grandchildren. Let me see if I can find it here. Oh, this is terrible. Talk about something else for a minute. All right. I'd be happy to.

You know. Here it is. Bragging rights. Bragging rights, yeah. Oh, here it is. It's called bragging rights. Okay. It's a long story.

My mother was to bragging what Rembrandt was. was to the portrait. This is from about my mother. Yeah. Especially when it came to her five grandsons, so much so that my sister and I worried that our relatives would resent our exceptional sons. The year our first grader played a piano duet with his music teacher at the school Christmas concert, my mother's eyes sparkled with pride. His classroom teacher forbade. His classroom teacher, forbade him, took him out of the chorus. He was supposed to sing with the chorus at the Christmas concert, but he didn't get a good grade on his classwork. Maybe he didn't know his spelling words. Maybe he didn't write his name in quite the right way. So she said, oh, you can't sing with the chorus.

And that's what he lived to do. So the music teacher invited him on the side to play a duet with her at the piano because he played a little bit of piano. I'll just finish reading this. The year our first grader played a piano duet with his music teacher at the school Christmas concert, my mother's eyes sparkled with pride. Mom, it's only chopsticks, I reminded her. She sniffed and threw back her head. I believe the announcer called it Christmas chopsticks.

She returned her gaze to Phil, no doubt imagining his future as featured pianist with the Baltimore Symphony. When the orchestra joined in, her smile broadened. Imagine her youngest grandson playing piano with a full orchestra at the age of six. She turned to the stranger seated beside her. I couldn't hear her, but I was pretty sure she wasn't explaining that her grandson was banned from the chorus for not doing his class work. That was such an example of a teacher

who wasn't being creative. You know, she was not being a good teacher. She should have seen, she should have known that maybe he wasn't capable of doing that. Anyway, there are good teachers and they're bad teachers. And this episode

of the story behind the story just made me think of that teacher in our one of my children's lives. Well, they're good plumbers and bad plumbers, right? They're good stone masons and bad stone masons, good accountants and bad accountants. But the power, you know, the negative power of a bad teacher is impossible to quantify because you'll never be able to know the opportunities that were missed.

The only way to look at them is to see what great things can happen when a great teacher usually gets out of their lane. You know, the reason Fred King was so instrumental, so influential, so involved, influential on so many people is because he didn't follow the traditional path. And that made his students just trust him more. It made us all more interested to see what he was due. To see what he would do next. You know, that's the thing about the story behind the story or the way I heard it or the process of writing or making soap or anything else.

When you do it and then put it out there, like you can't decide what your viewers or your reader is going to take from it. And I wrote that story. It's so interesting to hear you say this because Matt Crouch thought I wrote the story for one reason. You thought I wrote it to celebrate teachers. The truth is it was about the most selfish thing I could write about. I was interested in James Earl Jones because his voice changed when he was a very young man,

like mine did. And he makes his living, talking. And he also had a stammer and a stutter, which I struggled with for a while. And so I just very selfishly saw a guy who had succeeded, in spite of some things that I could relate to, and had a teacher who found a creative way to get past it. It was a very personal story to me.

But that's the story behind my story, and that's the way that I heard it. And then you throw it out there and suddenly you just can't decide how people are going to respond to vacuuming in the nude. some are going to clutch their pearls. Others are going to laugh because they've literally done it. You don't get to decide. I can't decide. You know, people watch dirty jobs.

Some people think it's just a straight up comedy. Other people think, you know, this is why you should go to college. And other people think, no, no, look, you can succeed without going to college. It's crazy how little control you have of the thing you work so hard to make. This is true. It's funny, I've had more fun with the title of this third book, Vacuuming in the Nude. We live in the home, and in this home where we live, there are 2,200 people in independent living. So there are a lot of people.

A lot of people know who I am because I've done a little speaking here. You and I did an interview together, Mike. but when people meet me in the hall I never know exactly where they're going to go I know they're going to talk about my writing but I've been surprised at how many people have reacted to this title of vacuuming in the nude it has brought me so much joy

people will stop me and they'll say oh Peggy I just read your book I have a story for you and they'll proceed to tell me I do my housework with no clothes on I just think that's so funny they'll say but don't tell anybody

well so here I am telling everybody but I'm not using their name and I promise them I won't go and look in the window like but people take from that something different you know some people just gloss over the title and they'll say to me oh, finally got to the significance of the title

toward the end of the book. It becomes clear why that title. But it's been fun to hear people tell their stories about housework and the nude. The federal government is not going to close America's skills gap. They have an important role to play for sure, but if we're serious about reinvigorating the skilled trades on a national level,

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I think it's doable. I'm doing what I can to help them. Learn more at skillsusa.org slash mic. That's skillsusa.org slash mic. I'm talking skills, U.S. skills, U.S. Hills USA Titles are funny You know

Sometimes you fall in love with one And it sort of guides The episode you make Or the chapter you write Or the book you publish And then sometimes you just have to finish The whole thing and look back at it And say, what do we just do here?

I remember talking to you Right before we went to the publisher And we had settled on a title That I liked a lot, actually, called the book in the drawer. And the book was very nearly called that. Why? Because every author really has a book they keep in the drawer

that they've, what, never finished? It's a learning tool. I mean, the first book that you write very seldom gets published because you're learning how to write and you're not quite as polished as you will be in the future. So that book doesn't really get any track.

and I still have my book in the bottom drawer, my first book. And that was the significance of that chapter. You know, don't expect to sit down and write a book and be a New York Times bestseller right away. Yeah. And I thought that was a great title because I thought, well, that's great advice for anyone. You know, don't expect to be an overnight success. Don't expect to get that promotion after a year or two. of service. Don't expect to get that dream job simply because you got your diploma. In fact, lower

your expectations with regard to all of that kind of thing. Raise your standards, do your best work. And if you're patient, like Peggy Roe, who wrote every day for 60 years, the 60 year overnight success. Yeah, exactly. But I was out for a walk and you and I were talking and you mentioned your neighbor who vacuumed in the nude and I just thought, you know, what would I pick up first? I'm standing there in the airport. I'm running late.

I need something to read. The book in the drawer by Peggy Rowe or vacuuming in the nude, which is a lot more fun to say as well. I think you chose wisely. I'm glad we went with that title. Yeah. It's different.

And I think it's pretty clever. Indeed it is. And people loved it. What else you got, I want to go back to last year with the cornhole Christmas. Peggy, you mentioned that you had, you had made cookies or some sort of treats around Christmas time, and you have them all ready to go for when people come to surprise you and say hi and they give you something, but you only reciprocate if they give you something. You don't pass out your cookies to just everybody. Are you doing that this year?

I'm not. If so, what are you making? I am not. And if you read my current post, you probably haven't had time to do that yet. That's so very busy. Then you will realize I did a presentation a couple of months ago. And it was a big group. And afterwards, I did a signing and a meeting greet.

And I was there for hours greeting people, taking pictures. And it was fun. It was exhausting. when I got home, I was seeing double. I had double vision. This has never happened to me before. There were two of everything. Well, I still had it the next day.

And so I called my doctor, Dr. Lisa, and I told her about it. She said, you go right to the ophthalmologists, tell them you have to be seen today. So anyway, they did a lot of tests and found nothing that could. could cause this double vision. So I went to see Dr. Lisa and she said, you know, Peggy, what did you do the day before? And so I told her. And she said, really, you realize you have a young mind,

but you have an old body and you're expecting too much of it. You're overextended. And so the premise of my post was, thanks for those lovely Christmas cards. If you think you're going to get one from me, hold your breath. Don't hold your breath. Because writing Christmas cards is one of those things I don't have to do, and one of those things I really don't have time to do.

And I don't have time to make Christmas treats either, not this year. Maybe in another year I will. But I'm just so busy doing all the stuff I have to do around writing. And for right now, that's important. So no, Chuck, I'm not making any treats this year. You're forgiven. Okay. No problem.

Actually, Mom, you are. Every post is a treat. Every new chapter, published or unpublished, is a treat. You're feeding your friends. You're nourishing your followers. And, you know, I just admire it a lot because you are living. in a zero-sum game, right? You can't bake the cookies, you can't do the cards,

you can't be a writer. And, God, is that a lesson, like, that we ever really learn and just be done with it because we learned it or we just doomed to constantly have to step back? I'm doing it myself right now. I, like, every day starts with, well, who am I going to disappoint today?

What thing that I say I was going to do that I'm simply not going to be able to do? Right. And then the question becomes, how bad am I going to beat myself up for it? How America Works is a great show that I'm proud to work on that I love. It was on Monday night. I forgot to tell people to tune in to watch it because I was still dealing with dirty jobs that was on Sunday night. Right. So what am I supposed to do with that?

Feel bad about it? Post about it after the fact? Not post about it. Is it even worth talking about it? Does anybody care? You know? Chuck cares about your cookies. Your readers care about your writing.

Yeah. In this case, I think Chuck's out. It's a matter of prioritizing things. And so I've decided to do that. And I try not to feel guilty, but every time I go out the door, and there's at least one card on our shelf, sometimes two or three, from neighbors, I feel, oh, no. I didn't send cards, but I get over it pretty quickly.

I do appreciate the cards, and they're beautiful, and I read them. And if I see that neighbor, I might mention, you know, thanks for the card. I'm not sending cards this year. Who said, I think it might have been Stephen King, who was talking about those kinds of decisions, but unique to writing, to kill your darlings. you have to be willing to kill your darlings, whether it's a thing you wrote or a thing you recorded, an idea, whatever.

Editing is the hardest thing. And editing your life is probably not much easier. How do you get rid of all this? How do you decide? How can something go from being as important as the tradition of making Christmas cookies was? That thing used to be really, really, really important. and how could it have fallen off the radar?

I know. It was replaced by something that was more important. Yeah. Well, I'm not beating myself up over it anymore, but when your mother calls or texts or emails you, she is important and you must answer, no matter what you're in the middle of, she is a priority.

Just remember that. I would take her seriously, Mike, because whenever she talks in the third person, you know, she means it. Yes. And you wouldn't want me to have to call Chuck and tell him. No, I wouldn't want that to happen. Even if I'm lying face down, having tripped and knocked my teeth out, if the phone rings and it's you. Not out, just through the lip. Just through the lip, yeah. I'll always take your call, Mom. I wanted to tell you about yesterday, I went to a wonderful Christmas concert.

You know, here at The Home, we are blessed with a concert every Sunday. Hey, can I make a quick point before you go on? Oh, yeah. When you call it The Home, I don't want people to think you're living in some kind of nursing home. You're living in one of the most vibrant places I've ever visited. People should know that. I mean, you've said it. It's Oak Crest.

It's Erickson's Senior Living. It's a big company. And this facility has a couple thousand people there. and they're busy down at the home. Indeed. I mean, there are more activities. Do you know there are 200 clubs that have been started by the residents and that are running, whether it's card playing or sewing or genealogy or woodwork?

These are clubs that people are interested in. Believe me, there is more going on here. I jokingly referred to it as the home when we first moved in, and my readers kind of get a kick out of that. But it's not to confuse with the old-fashioned nursing home of many years ago where people were warehoused and neglected. This is nothing like that. Like God, they were playing pickleball last time I was there.

Oh, they play pickleball. They play softball. And now there's a table tennis group. Chuck, did you play ping pong? Were you good at that? Oh, I wasn't good at it. But yeah, Mike and I used to play all the time at Essex Community College, sometimes missing class to play.

We would play for hours. It's true. It's true. Well, they've started that. And now the shuffleboard season is starting. And the 1st of January, there's. starting the tournaments, and there are dozens of teams. It's just so popular.

And Batchie Ball, and there's a little putting green outside. Oh, and Cornhole on Wednesdays and Saturdays. And there's just more activities than I can begin to tell you. So if you're here and you're bored, it's your own fault. You've got to get out and do things. Yeah. Well, you know, the other way to look at it, too, is that there's an expression that the home is where the heart is, right? Oh, I like that. So I didn't see it as a derogatory thing when you said the home.

I have to write that down. You can quote me on that, Peg. Yeah. Well, be it ever so humble, there's no place like it. Like the home. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Yes. But anyway, aside from all that stuff, the stuff you've been posting, the concerts are kind of. of amazing. I mean, I actually, it's funny, I think, I think one of the first times Chuck and I ever sang in public with the old quartet was in a home, like a classic home. I've told the story before, I'm not going to tell it again. It's horrifying. But, you know, a barbershop quartet entertaining a room full of senior citizens is a thing. And it's always what I've thought of when, okay, that's what passes for entertainment. This is like world-class orchestrated. is coming in there and some of the best musicians.

Oh, absolutely. Listen, these people have toured Europe, many of them. And they're here playing for us. And are we appreciative? It's a full house. Oh, my goodness. Instrumentalists and vocalists and such talent. We're privy to.

Now, sometimes we have to pay $3. But most of us here can afford $3 for a... Do they have a... finance department? Yes, they do. We have an easy pay program. Not sure you can charge it or not. But yesterday, O'Crest has a chorus and

we have, I didn't count all the people, but there are dozens of people in the chorus, maybe 50 men and women. It was such a fun program. I went on Sunday afternoon and they

did it again Monday evening. I went again. It was a full house both times. And I took your father yesterday, last night, Monday evening. He enjoyed it. And he's not quite, he doesn't quite appreciate music the way I do. Yes. Exactly, exactly. He doesn't have an ear for it. Well, now he doesn't have two ears for it. But so not only did the chorus perform, the men sang, then the women sang, they sang together. We have a wonderful P.N. a woman who's 92 years old. She is couldn't be better. We have an organist and pianist, Keith Derrickson. Keith composed a piece that he directed. We had two groups from the sweet Adelines to sing, and the people loved them. What a nice variety. We had a floutist, and I love the flute. There was just such a variety.

It just lasted an hour. Everybody enjoyed it. And I'm telling you, when I'm at one of these performances, I look around at people. I observe them. And I see so many old people with white hair and their eyes are brimming. And I know that they have so many memories,

a lifetime of memories, that this music brings to mind. It's just very, it's moving to me to see how the people react, especially during the holidays, at the Christmas music. And when Sonia sang, Oh, Holy Night,

now I don't know how old Sonia is, but she is a resident here. She's at least in her 70s, I would think. Old voices are different. they're not as strong, but she hit every note. It was beautiful, and even I had to dab the tears from my eyes.

It was just beautiful. Anyway, it was a meaningful experience. And we are privy to that practically every Sunday, you know, a different kind of performance. Well, look, I mean, not to turn it into a commercial, but sharing those moments like you do on social and here too, I think, I know, maybe it's just me, but, you know, as your son, 3,000 miles away,

when I can pop on the internet and see you enjoying a concert like that or doing a thing like that, that's a kind of peace of mind that it's important. I mean, people are just, it's so sad this time of year when you think about the people who are separated from the people that they love. And the internet, it's a nightmare.

It's a brain suck. It makes you dumber and a gazillion. different ways. At least it can. But it's also a tool. And you can use it for amazing good. And you know, you're doing that. Yeah. And you know, so often old age is a story of loss. People have lost the lifestyle they were used to. They've lost the lovely home that they took care of for years. They've lost their mobility. In a lot of cases, they've lost their spouse. They've lost their way of life, and it's sad. But, I don't know, a place like this has so many happy stories, too.

And like I say, it's all material, it's all content, and I just have to write about it. So my next book will probably be related to tales from the home, something like that, but I might not use those exact words. Well, whatever. It's, there will be no treats this year, but. Not for me. There will be something delicious coming. You're into number four right now?

You're writing every day still? Yes, actually, I am. And I've made so many notes and I've got so many stories in my head. I hardly know where to begin. There are so many interesting people here. Oh, my goodness. I hardly know where to begin. I've got about 10 people right off the bat that I have to interview. They are just so interesting.

I love it. And that's my story. And you're sticking to it. Chuck, we're a minute, 16 in. Anything else you want to share before I cut this thing loose? My mom's got places to go. I think we're good. I just want to wish everybody Merry Christmas.

This is two years in a row that we've had the pleasure of having Peggy. on as the last episode for the year. This is going to be the last episode, and we'll be back in 20, 23, bright and early, first week with all new guests and stuff like that, and I'm sure there will be Peggy back. There's going to be more peg, mom, if you're up for it. I mean, aside from getting the audio version of your other books up,

which I know people are going to like, we should start doing those check-ins again. You know, we used to have coffee together, like Mondays with Mother. Right? Like 20 minutes. Let's start doing that in 2023. Let's talk. I mean, we're going to talk once a week at least anyway, but let's start recording them. Share your blogs that you're working on with me. We'll make little videos. We'll put them out there. I mean, look, the people have spoken. They want you. More of you. More of you writing, less of you face down bleeding, if it's not too much to ask. Yeah. Not going to do that anymore. Been there, done that. No more. Yeah. Keep marching. Keep marching. Yeah. Keep those knees up. Yep. I shall do that. Hey, what Chuck said, times 10 from me. We appreciate you guys listening. It's been a great year for the podcast. It's been a great year for us. And it's been a terrific year for my mom, you know, except for the broken teeth and whatnot. But we're moving forward. And we're lucky to have such a great audience. And I'm lucky to have such a great mom. Keep writing.

Love you. Love you, too. And I'll be seeing you in the new year. Will you? You too, Chuck. I hope so. Will Chuck be joining us for our get-togethers? Somebody's got to push to record.

Yeah, somebody's got to record these things. I may sit silently. Who knows? Oh, okay. Hope Springs Eternal. Merry Christmas, everybody. And a happy new year. Merry Christmas.

Happy New Year. Do do do do To the guys who advertise and subsidize The podcast that I do they spend their dough and you should know before you go That's why it's free for you because it's free I hope you see and then agree Their bottoms should be kissed without the guys who advertised a show would not exist There's no podcast without a sponsor Thank them for paying the frame

Please don't fast forward through their commercials, even ones that you hate. There's no podcast without a sponsor. Thank them for paying the freight. Please don't fast forward through their commercial. Even the ones you hate. To say the same thing in a slightly different way, this podcast, was made possible by my good friends at ZipRecruiter, Butcherbox, Field of

Greens, Lightstream, Black Rifle Coffee, Edmund, Shopify, Noble, Tennessee whiskey, denture fit, better help, the propane industry, and everyone else who spend good money marketing their fine products to the loyal listeners of this humble endeavor. What do you say we do it again in 2023?

That would be awesome. Until then, have yourself a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And thank you very much. If you work in University Maintenance, Granger considers you an MVP because your playbook ensures your arena is always ready for tip off and granger is your trusted partner offering the products you need all in one place from h-fack and plumbing supplies to lighting and more and all delivered with plenty of time left on the clock so your team always gets the

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