The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 467: BONUS Coffee with Mom—They Couldn't Get Enough of My Groin

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

After a six-month hiatus from TWIHI and on the occasion of her 88th birthday, multiple New York Times bestselling author Peggy Rowe (a.k.a. Mike's mom, a.k.a. America's grandmother) drops by to tell us where she's been, what she's working on next, and the groin-intruding procedure that took away her double vision. Who says "you can't get there from here!?" Many thanks to our excellent sponsors ZipRecruiter.com/Rowe to post a job for FREE. MDriveForMen.com Try Boost and Burn to aid energy, metabolism and fat burning MCSF.org/apply Check your availability and apply today! American-Giant.com/MIKE Use code MIKE to get 20% off your order.

A cup of coffee with my mom. Well, well, well, well, as I live and breathe. Hi. Hi. How's everybody? Great. Well, living and breathing, I think, is the operative word right now. Welcome back to the land of the what.

Land of the living. The seeing? The land of the seeing. Yeah. Oh, today was another red letter day. Tell me. Well, we went downstairs. and they had a buffet today.

And for the first time, I went, when I say we went downstairs, that means a hallway, an elevator, another hallway, and another hallway. Pretty good walk. I went down without using my roll later. I've been using a walker and a roll later for the past three or four months because I've been a little unsteady, a little unbatting. a little unbalanced. But today, for the first time, I went down without my roll later,

and I made out just fine. I didn't have to hold on to anybody or grab hold of anybody, and that was good. That is good. I need to ask, though, what is a roll later? I think I know what it is, but I'm not sure. It's a fancy walker. You know what a walker is?

You've seen old people lean on walkers. and they have two wheels in the front and gliders in the back. Well, a roll later is just an upgraded version of a walker, and it has four wheels that turn very easily. It's like they're on ball bearings. And, well, I'll tell you, I missed my role later today, not because I needed to steady myself. It has this wonderful seat on it that lifts up,

And you can store so much under there. Chuck, you don't understand. In the world of unintended consequences, the rollator occupies some lofty place on a throne. I mean, it's so well intended. We'll put wheels on a walker. Right. But then we'll put a seat on it. And then we'll put a cage in the front of it.

And storage underneath, yeah. Right. So the entire, you know, facility feels like a safe way. you know, on a Saturday morning. Everybody has a cart that's kind of a walker, but it's filled with stuff. And so you get these terrific traffic jams of rollators. And this is like pandemonium at the elevators, you know, just getting people on there situated with these things. It's something to see, Mom.

But let's back up. It's been four months since we've done one of these. you've been through a medical gauntlet, a crucible of things. People ask me every day how you're doing. I tell them as best I can, but it's, you know, where are you on this and how much of your latest health odyssey do you want to share asking yourself before you start to talk

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And while you're there, pick up their free business guy, demystifying AI. It's filled with super useful information. And again, it's free at netsuite.com slash mike. That's net sweet. Well, actually, there is a lot of humor incorporated in these past three or four months. You know, it began with headaches and nausea and several trips to the hospital. And finally, a neurologist was able to help me.

And I was in the hospital. And they discovered that I had something. called a fistula in my brain up in my head. And a fistula is when blood vessels clumped together. So I had arteries and veins that for some reason clumped together and prevented my blood from going up to the capillaries in the top of my head, as it's supposed to do to distribute oxygen. I believe I'm getting it right. I might not. If my doctor sees this, I'm sorry.

As all this was happening, just so people understand. And I'll wager 90% of people listening have been through, maybe not a fistula, but this sudden panic that happens when a diagnosis comes out or something like a diagnosis and you're not quite sure you're trying to figure out what it is. And the thing that's changed more than anything is AI. And so, of course, I'm on chat GPT right away. My mom has double visions. She has headaches, right?

There's this, there's that. What could it be? It could be myasenia gravis. It could be this fistula. What would the fistula be? Well, you know, it could be this thing and the carotid, right, that feeds the cavernous sinus that's creating a amount of pressure that's blah. And suddenly you're just like, good God, man. I mean, it's an endless rabbit hole of possibility.

And so all this is happening well before the holiday, you know, well before Christmas. We're trying to figure out why you have double vision. And it's just week after week with the headaches. And yeah, God, everybody who loves you was in such a panic and you went dark on social media. And, oh, yoy, y'ye, I'm just so glad to see you sitting there looking like your old self. Well, it's good to be back among the living, breathing. And I'm active, you know. I get up and I go around and I walk places.

Well, the one good thing about this was that even with my double vision, I did not have it up close so that I could continue to write and read with normal vision, which really was wonderful. It kept me from going crazy, I think. But last week one day I got up and the doctor had told me, the surgeon had told me and the other neurologist had told me that there was a strong possibility that my eyes would, my vision would resolve and I would again not have double vision and see normally. But, you know, after a couple of months, you begin to wonder, were they just giving you false hope? But your brother, Phil, was here last week and his wife. And I walked into the living room in the morning, and I said, I think there's been a miracle.

I'm not having double vision. Phil, you just have one head. You don't have two heads this morning. And there was just one picture on the wall and one mirror and one telephone. And, you know, it was really like a miracle. It was welcome. Well, speaking of miracles, I mean, the whole, the team over at Hopkins was amazing. I got a chance to go over there a couple of times, Chuck, and, you know, meet the doctors and meet the nurses.

And, I mean, it's, there's really not much new to say, I don't think, about the miracle of modern medicine. but when you see it applied and when you see it work, for me, the most shocking thing is you're always optimistic. You're always hopeful. It just doesn't matter what. You can always find a silver lining in a cloud. You can always find the, you know, the glasses always half full with you. And I just saw you in a place where I hadn't seen you before.

And it just seemed, it's just horrifying to see someone so completely I don't want to say helpless, but just waiting. Yeah. Yeah, I was. But you know what? Even so, there is humor, Mike. So the way that they got up into my head, you would never. I mean, they took the scenic root.

They went in through my groin and they went in through an artery all the way up into my head. Mike said, Mom, you can see. all the pictures and read about it on the internet. And really, I don't care to. Thank you. I'll just take their word for it. But they came in and went the first time I had a bleed. And so they had to abort the surgery.

And they did it the following day. So they went in through my groin, went up to my brain. Well, in the hospital, you hear tales about the hospital. you don't get much rest because there are people who care about you and are responsible for your recovery. They keep coming into the room. I mean, every time you turn your head, there's another team of doctors coming in. Specialists. I'll tell you, my groin was the most popular attraction in the hospital that week.

Teams of doctors came. They couldn't get enough. like it was a tourist attraction. And I think I know how El Capitan feels and, you know, the statue of liberty. They couldn't get enough of my groin. And so finally, on the last day, this team of young, I think there were three young doctors coming into the room. I knew the drill. I pulled off my sheet, lifted my gown, and they said to me, hi, Mrs. Roe, we're the eye team. We're here to check your eyes. Well, as I recall, we all smiled. They probably wanted to laugh out loud, but. Yeah. This is all fascinating, but if we could, my eyes are up here.

So I covered up again, and they took care of my eyes. Another young doctor came in. I'm telling you, I wanted to FaceTime my children, but I got a glimpse of myself in a mirror. So we groin-timed. In fact, Mike took our picture one day, sent it to his brothers, and one of them wrote back, who is that? Who is that in bed? I wasn't recognizable.

I looked horrible. So this young doctor came in one morning, and he said, well, it was probably the middle of the night. And he said, I guess you know why I'm here, Mrs. Ro. And I said, well, I hope you're here to do something about my hair because I've never looked so bad in my life. He just laughed. He didn't agree with me, but.

Well, from my perspective, you know, I was there a couple hours after you went in. I think you'd been in there one or two nights or three. I don't even know. By the time I got to D.C. and then got up. there they had already failed on the first attempt and they were going to go through your groin again but in the other leg and we were waiting for that to happen and yeah the parade of doctors and nurses who come in to check out your lady but it's just constant and it's difficult for you know what does the oldest son do you know you're sitting there like a spectator look away for god's

sakes look away that's not enough chuck the risk of catching a reflection in the glass is simply too high, right? You leave. You leave the room. And then they leave, and then you come back and you sit down and get situated. And literally three minutes later, a new team comes in. You've got to get out of there. And then just so it goes.

And I saw it three hours. You got your steps in that day. What's that? You got your steps in, walking in and out of the room. The funny thing is, Mike, you took a picture and showed it to me later. I didn't even remember that you were at the hospital.

And I said to you, you came to the hospital during this procedure? And you said, yeah, mom, here's the picture. I wasn't remembered. I never left your side. I was there for a week. Never left. Thank you. I appreciate it.

You should have brought a comb with you. It was beyond traditional retail hair care products at that point. I have a question, Peggy, when they are going through your groin and doing that little snake thing up to your brain, are you conscious when this is happening? Oh, no. I was totally under and I was intubated. So I was somewhere else. And this happened two days in a row. So I'm telling you, my whole system, and this might be TMI, but my whole digestive tract.

was put to sleep. And five days later, nothing was working below the waist if you get my drift. I certainly do. And it was so unpleasant. And really, I came home from that surgery in time for John's birthday, for Dad's birthday. And that was on the 19th, no, that was on the 21st of November. It was not a happy, it was a happy time to get home, but it was not generally a happy time. And that's been, what, almost two months, it's been two months since then.

And my system, my body, my normal functions are just back to normal. And that has taken two months. thanks to a product called Senna, another product called Miralax, another product called Metamuseful. And I did everything right. I did everything they told me to do. And still, it's a process. I walked, I walked a lot. I'm a good walker.

Coffee with Mom, brought to you by Senna, Miramax, and Metamusel. Miralax. Miramax isn't different. Miramax. Sorry. Mirror Max. Yeah, we wouldn't want this on film. That was Harvey Weinstein's company.

That's a whole other conversation. That's a different conversation. But anyway, so I'm back to normal. I just have to ask you something. I mean, you're a private person. At least you always have been, as far as I can remember, and you're somewhat circumspect. And now you're going to be, well, you're 88.

we're releasing this podcast in honor of your birthday. And it's just, it defies my imagination. It's incredulous to me that you would be sitting here at 88 talking about your lower GI track, your groin. You just think there's... D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-dum. I love stories like this. Seven years ago, a guy named Ben Still was a music. musician. He had zero interest in running a food company, but he was annoyed that so much

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constantly for months for some kind of update. And now you're giving them one. And, you know, I mean, we haven't even, you know, and dad, between the urologist and the cardiologist and the cardiologist, and all the medicines and the drama. And you've been a caregiver and a receiver of care. And, you know, just as many people are listening who have been in your position, but I would dare say no one has been in your position who is also writing about it every day and talking about it to their son. And is this weird?

Is it pleasant? Is it therapeutic? It's been educational. honey. How you doing? How you doing, Mom? You know what? It really has been an education. A trip to the hospital with surgery and a life, you know, a life-threatening procedure or ailment is such an eye-opener. And you've heard this before going into the hospital for that. You lose all modesty. And you talk about things that you never imagined you would talk. about. I mean, not long ago, I came out of the bathroom and I went up to your father and I gave

him a hug and I said, oh, John, I heard a plop. Now, that might be TMI and I'm sorry if it is. I hope nobody's eating while they're listening to this. And John, and there was rejoicing in the land. John hugged me and turned me around. He said, oh, that's wonderful, honey. Oh my goodness, the things we talk about. But yeah, being in the hospital was such an eye-opener. I have lost, well, I haven't lost all my modesty, but I find myself talking about things that I would not have talked about previously. To people that you would typically not talk to at all. That's the thing. It's not, it's not just the immodesty of it. It goes from, look, I don't want to talk about this to, I'm going to talk to everybody about this all the time.

That's what's so interesting. That's like, I mean, when you wrote about dad's hydroceal or whatever the thing was that led to, you know, the enormous swelling of the scrotum, and so, like, it's impossible that we're talking about this now. I get embarrassed. Like, like, just saying it now makes me blush, but then I think, wait a minute, you wrote a whole chapter about it. You've given speeches about my dad's scrotum. And so, I don't know, the world is full of shocking people who say shocking things to get a reaction. You're not one of those people. You're just my mom who is just playing the cards that she's been dealt. It's just amazing to me. Well, Mike, another reason this has been such an exceptional time is that your father has been going through a traumatic experience also.

In the last 20 years, your father has had bladder cancer six times and has been treated for it. The cancerous tumors have been scraped from his bladder. They know that they're cancer and they know that they're going to grow back, but it's a slow process. And rather than remove the bladder or do extreme surgery, they go into the bladder by the only path possible without making an incision. I'll leave the rest of your imagination. The pre-existing, let's call it a aperture, a pipeline. A pipeline. And they scrape it all.

And dad is used to having that done. but one day a couple of months ago dad went into the bathroom again if anybody's eating you might want to just put it aside or watch this later and he called me in

and he said look at this well the toilet bowl was just filled with red blood and you don't want to see that so of course our doctors are wonderful and they have given me their email. They allow me to text them on their personal phones. And so, of course, I called our doctor, or texted our doctor right away. He worked us in very shortly after

that and did a cystoscopy where they went in with a camera, micros, oh, you know, and discovered that dad did have another cancerous tumor in there that was larger than the preceding ones and could not be scraped off. Well, at the age of 93, dad is not a candidate for anesthesia. You don't want to put him out because of his heart history and his age. anyway. Two years earlier, again, right around Christmas, he has a heart attack. Yeah. So there's, you know, the AFIB thing. So now he's on blood thinners. Right. So it's the thinning blood that is causing the tumor to bleed that's in his bladder that's too large to be scraped. Right. And by the way, how big is the camera on the device?

I hope it's very small. This whole systoscime thing that goes up in through the pipeline. There's a camera on it? And a tool. A whole crew. Yeah, I know. Well, it's not a pleasant experience. And dad hopes not to have to go through it again, but he will.

Well, anyway, that's what dad's been going through. And it seems like it's been one thing. thing after another and poor thing. So we've had to, we're trying to balance his blood thinner, so we've decreased that. So in the meantime, it's one thing after the other. Poor dad, he's been such a trooper through it all and has remained positive. And through it all, he continues shooting pool and playing shuffleboard. So shortly after this business with the blood thinner, oh, he bit down on something and heard his tooth.

He had to have dental surgery. For the dental surgery, he had to go off his blood thinner just when he's coming back on it. Also, he broke his hearing aid. We had to go to the audiologist need to get that. So I jumped in the car with him and we went to the audiologist. It's so awesome that you're both driving. This is great. You think two of everything. He's bleeding and here. No, honey, I was in the passenger seat. And dad said it's quite a miracle that I can still give him driving

advice with only one eye at a time. I've been wearing a patch. I mean, for months I wore a patch over one of my lenses in my glasses. And he said, this is the vision that I think people need to understand. Again, just from my perspective, sometime before Christmas, after his birthday, I'm there, I'm getting up to speed. I got the AI. I got a doctor in my pocket. Okay. We're surrounded by new doctors and new names. There's a urologist. There's a cardiologist. And these two guys, Chuck, with their enormous brains, each have the same goal, which is to keep. my dad alive, but one of them is focused on the tumor, which needs to stop bleeding, and the other is focused on the heart, which will be exposed if he throws a clot, which could happen if the blood thinners,

right, if he goes off the blood thinners. So one guy wants to keep him alive by getting him off the blood thinners. The other wants to keep him alive by keeping him on the blood thinners. My mom is trying to make sense of this. He breaks a tooth in half. The dentist wants to fix the tooth, but that's going to involve bleeding. So now the dentist is involved. My mom is trying to make sense of this. My mom is trying to broker the whole conversation. And she's like a pirate. She's got her glasses on, but she's got double vision. So she's got a patch over, like, on the lens.

And so it's a Sunday, and we get the doctor at the home, a wonderful guy. We sit down and we're trying to try. It's impossible. We're trying to triangulate all of the different calamities with the best advice from each ologist that there is. Now there's a dentist thrown in there, too. They're rollators everywhere, flying up and down the hallways. It's just, it's a kind of pandemonium.

I mean, if you've been through it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you just have to see it to believe it. And hope to God you never experienced it firsthand. It's extraordinary. There's been a lot going on. And the only other side effect that worries me about me, now dad is in good shape right now. In fact, he's down shooting pool right now with the guys. Good for him.

The only thing that I'm still experiencing is my hair's falling out, and that scares me. I can rake my hands through my hair and I get hair, and it's getting thinner and thinner, and that scares me. I don't want to be bald. My hairdresser has a nice term for it, and she says, well, I'm going to do a little undercut in the back where you're going sparse. I'm going sparse. Yeah. I got you.

So anyway, so I go past this wig place on Honeygoe Boulevard, and I'm tempted to stop in there and see what the process is. I don't think you're close to a wig. In fact, your hair looks pretty good to me. They've got some bangs going there. I'd like to have one in place if I need it. Well, I still have some hair. It's thin.

Now, would the doctor say about that? Is that a logical? Well, I asked the neurologist, and he said, you know, it could be a result of the anesthesia. And so I went to a dermatologist. It was time for my annual visit to the dermatologist. She looked through my hair with a magnifying glass, and she said, I don't see anything that could be causing hair loss. There are no rashes or nothing going on up there. And then I went to have my hair trimmed and my hairdresser said,

I have this complaint a lot from people who have had anesthesia. And she said, but usually it comes back. So, you know, don't get down about it. So anyway, we're dealing with a lot of stuff, Mike. But otherwise, things are pretty good. Oh, my gosh, things are good here at the home. I met a man this afternoon, and I got his contact because he's so interesting, and I want to talk to him.

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talk, text and data on a blazing fast network for just 3499 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. He stands out here. He comes to visit his father, and I've seen him several times, but I've never spoken to him. He has 26 holes in his ears. He's got these little small.

circular silver things hanging from both ears. He wears a bandana around the top of his head. And he's got a bushy beard, bushy beard. So he really attracts attention. So I made a point of stopping him in the hallway when I was on my way here today, on my way home from the buffet. And I said, hi, you don't know me, but I've seen you. around a lot. I said, tell me about your earrings. Is that one piece or do you have like 26 holes?

He said, oh, I have 26 holes. He said, I like to hear the sound. Well, he's from Arizona, but he comes to visit his father frequently. And he hunts rattlesnakes. Well, anyway, his phone rang while we were talking. And he said, oh, this is my friend. I haven't talked to him in five years. I can't talk to you anymore. I said, well, this is my name. Give me your phone number. I'm going to give you a call, and we're going to have a talk. So I'll give him a call later on it. But it sounds like a story. He's an interesting person. I've worked with rattlesnake hunters, and I know a lot of people who have done things to their ears that you wouldn't believe. Do you remember my friend Dan from New York? I lived in his house. Oh, I do. Yeah. Did you ever meet?

him, or just remember me talking about him. I think I'm remembering a different Dan. I knew, I met a Dan from QVC, but that was a different Dan. Oh, no. No, that's a different Dan. This guy, Dan, owned a beautiful brownstone downtown. And you remember Katie, who I used to date. Well, she had a sister and those two used to date.

Oh, I remember. And we were all friends. And then they broke up. And it was kind of awkward. and I was staying with Dan when I was in New York. And Dan, anyway, he fell in love with some girl in Paris. He left. And I wound up living alone in this house for the longest time.

And this is pretty great. Dan was getting some work done on the recording studio that he owned down in the village, Greenwich Village, and asked me to go down there one day to check on the construction. And the lead carpenter was a guy named Don. And he sounds just like this guy you described. His beard was red and about a foot long and braided. And he was bald. And he didn't have earrings, but he did have a piercing in one of his lobes.

And in the piercing, and I swear to God, Mom, on a stack of Bibles, in the piercing was an empty can of Budweiser. You mean a regular size can of Budweiler? Yep, a 12-ounce can of Budweiser. And he had it in his earlobe, just like an earring. And I swear, I know it doesn't seem possible. And I was so fascinated by this guy. I did the same thing you did.

I said, Don, your carpentry work is incredible. Dan sends his regards. But I need to talk to you about how this is possible. And he said, well, it took years. It took years of every day, every week, putting something just a little larger than the last thing in the hole. You know, from, I think he said he used like, you know, Smarties. They come in a little rap, like a little tube of Smarties. And then he said he had, like, went through a whole candy phase.

He had a Snickers in there for a while. So he put every day, he'd put some. different in this hole in his lobe. And it got to the point where he had a Budweiser can. And the skin around it was just as thin as it could be, just a thin little bit of skin. But it's tough, and it was enough to hold the beer can in place. So, you know, I'm with you. There are certain things you see in certain people, and you just can ignore it, look past it. My goodness, I can't imagine.

Or walk up and get their phone number. I can't imagine. I mean, 26 holes in your ear. That's the thing. Yeah. Are you going to follow up? Are you going to write a story about this guy? Well, I think I will because I said, well, another neighbor had passed me in the meantime.

I had come home and then gone out again and I'd seen this guy twice. And in between our two meetings, the other neighbor told me about the rattlesnake hunting. So I said, I hear your rattlesnake hunter, and he said, no, I don't kill them. I just look at them. I'll take their picture, and I'll write an article. So I have a feeling he's probably a writer and connected with some college. It sounds like a story. And if it's not, I won't write it.

But people are interesting. And you never know who you're going to run into here at the home. How has it been for the last four months? with your writing. I know that it was a chore for a while, but do you feel like you're back? Do you feel like you have a, I mean, you know how you used to just wake up agitated because you hadn't been writing for seven or eight hours and jump back into it. Do you have that, is that still with you? Oh yeah, but it has returned. I lost a couple of months, the first couple of months when I had these terrible headaches and nausea and double vision. It was very discouraging. And I was,

obsessed with myself and with dad's treatment because we were, you know, side by side in peril. But I'd say as of the beginning of December, maybe, yeah, the beginning of December, I'm really back on it. And I'm about two-thirds finished my next book. And the material just keeps coming. And I've got three stories that I need to work. on and so yeah I have a lot to do it's wonderful I can't explain how exciting it is you see that I just googled extreme ear piercings that's at least that's a couple dozen in there I didn't have nerve to take a picture of this guy but I so wanted to but I

wouldn't want to I guarantee mom he would have been fine with it yeah there's just There's no way people do that to their ears and then say, what are you looking at? Don't look at my ear. Don't take the picture. That's weird. Yeah. Well, you know, I know one thing about him. He's a good son.

I see him sitting with his father a lot, having dinner, and they're engaged in conversation. And, you know, any kid who comes to visit a parent. Now, look at that. That's about the size somewhere between a quarter and a silver dollar. and that's what that looks like. That is exactly what Don had in his earlobe, except it was the circumference of a beer can. Mike, I was somewhere, I don't remember where,

and I met a young man who had one of those, I think they call it a spreader that they put in the earlobe to spread it. And he was a musician. I think it's a speculum. Is it a speculum? Speculum. Well, I don't know about that.

That's a tool that an obstinate. nutrition uses, gynecologist. You might want to look that up. But anyway, this young man had his earlobes large, and he was a musician. And apparently he was a pretty good musician. And he decided he wanted to go into the military and be a part of the military band. They would not accept him because of his earlobes. So if anybody's tempted.

to do anything extreme, you might consider the ramifications down the road. You know, it could affect your future if you alter your appearance like that. Yeah. Now, I guess it's the same conversation with tattoos, right? I mean, for the longest time, that was no, no, no, no, no. That's for sailors, you know, sailors and whores or whatever. But now, suddenly, everybody's got a tattoo, it seems. I know some very nice people who have a lot of tantus.

Yeah, me too. Me too. Not personally. I don't have one. No, I wouldn't hang out with them kind of people. No, body's my temple. Hey, I'm sorry, were you going to say something? Because if you weren't, I'm going to change the subject.

I just wondered what you've been doing lately. You've been so busy. You're on the road all the time. Yeah. And I've been curious about one thing, Mike. When you've shown me, every once in a while you'll send me a picture of an audience and thousands of people. And when you speak to people who are, say, administrators or people who have obviously had college educations, do you feel at all awkward that you are hyping the trades the way you do?

And, I mean, do these other people still accept you? you, like, would you be called on to give a graduation speech from a university? Yeah. I've been invited by, I think, well, two schools in the Ivy League over the years. A lot of trade schools, a lot of state schools. I mean, probably 100, to be honest. And we've never really done it because it's such a, if you do one, like, you know, my own alma mater has invited me back. Oh, have they? Yeah, both of them, the community college and the and the university. And so has your elementary school, but you've declined. I did a graduation speech during the lockdowns for all trade schools, and I posted it and invited

people to use it if they wanted to, because I did have a very specific message for trade school grads. But what's happened, Mom, today, everything has changed. I mean, after 17 years of microworks, this year is a whole new era. It's like a memo went out in a lot of ways. Big college institutions get it. Big corporations, CEOs are, you know, the people that are most involved now in microworks are what you would call white collar companies. Big banks are being very supportive right now because the headlines have caught up to what we've been talking about. And the shortages that exist today are enormous. And they're, you know, AI is a real threat to a lot of jobs, but not the kind of jobs that we

typically talk about in the foundation. So no, I don't, I don't feel squeamish talking in front of large groups of highly educated people because most of them now realize that, you know, know, a balanced workforce is two sides of the same coin. And they, um, they invite me to come and kind of lecture them, to be honest. It's really fun. But it is very different talking to, you know, like a big Silicon Valley company versus U.S. Steel. You know, those audiences are different. And, you know, you, you kind of have to be mindful of that when you go in. Is it weird to love people, but,

despise human resources? If so, well, color me weird. It's not to say I don't respect the millions of people who work in HR departments and companies all over the country. I do. It's just that I don't envy him. That's why MicroWorks doesn't have an HR department for better or worse. And it's also why I use ZipRecruiter whenever we need to expand. ZipRecruiter has proven themselves a million times over by helping countless employers get through the hiring process faster and more effectively than ever before. And now they have a new feature that instantly shows you the most interested, the most passionate, and the most qualified candidates first. This is a huge time saver, hours and hours of save time. And it helps people like me find the people who can function

in a non-traditional work environment like microworks. In other words, Recruiter works for me, and they'll probably work for you, too. Post a job for free at ziprecruiter.com slash row. And watch what happens. Odds are, you'll find a human resource that just happens to be a great fit for your company in 24 hours or less. ZipRecruiter.com slash row. ZipRecruiter.com slash row. The smartest way to hire.

You know, when I saw you in the hospital, I had just come. up from the Pentagon. I had meetings there all day. I've talked to the different cabinet heads in the administration, simply because they're looking around and saying, yeah, we need to do something. We need to close the gap. And so it's really nothing new from our perspective,

but it's been pretty interesting to see people around us, you know, kind of take the temperature or look at the lay of the land and go, oh, yeah. So, yeah, sorry, I've been busy. That's what I've been doing. I'm out talking about this stuff every day now. Well, it's not as though you say to people don't go to college. College is a bad thing.

College is, you know, don't do that route. You don't say that. I've listened to your message. I appreciate it, thanks. Well, no, no, never. I go out of my way to say that my liberal arts, education has been a godsend, you know, what you and dad did for me, you know, helping me get through the community college and Towson after that. And that was a giant gift. But what was?

It was like $14,000 in 1980. It wasn't much. I mean, it was a lot then in relative terms, but it's $100,000 today for the same, you know, the same basic education. And I still think the liberal arts degree is really, really, really useful and valuable, but not at any cost. It's been interesting for me to be able to carry that message. And I get a lot of grief for it, as you know, because I, you know, I did go to college. And my message, we've got, how many Chuck now, 3,400 people have gone through microworks, I guess. Oh, really? Yeah, about that.

Oh, my goodness. And given away over 14 million. So they've gotten scholarships, all those people? Oh, yeah. Yeah, all of them. We're going to do $10 million this year for trade schools just this year. And we're able to do that because a lot of these companies we're talking about are realizing that their business is also connected to the trades,

not directly but indirectly. And it matters. So it's, no, it's been super gratifying to see people start to pay attention. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. I'm sure. I mean, I so wish your dad were still around to see this. I was just about to say the same thing.

I wish my father could see the impact or realize the impact that you've had on society, you know, with... Well, that he's had. That he had on you and you, in turn, have shared it. Well, look, Dirty Jobs doesn't go on the air, obviously without him. MicroWorks doesn't happen without him. None of it happens if you don't call me when I'm... at Evening Magazine, when your dad is like 90 and say, you know, wouldn't it be great if he could see something on TV that looked like work before he dies?

You know, that started it in so many ways. It's all of a piece, Mom, you know? Yeah. It's all connected. This is true. Hey, do you, do you want to make a Pure Talk commercial with me? No, I could do that because I've had Pure Talk. were talked for a couple of weeks now. And my golly, the other day when another certain provider

went out, I was very grateful that I was... Rhymes with Horizon? We don't want to badmouth any other providers, but yeah, my friends were in a dither. Oh, my golly, they couldn't get their email. They couldn't get, they couldn't get calls. They it's like people were at a loss just because their provider went down. And there I was with my Pure Talk. And I hadn't had it for very long. Honestly, Michael, I can't see any difference in Pure Talk than another provider that I used to have except for the price, except for the cost. It's the same towers.

Yeah, it's the same towers, same 5G thing. Let me tell you what's going on. This is so weird. Chuck, did I send you this thing from, there's this agency that ranks the effectiveness of. Oh, you told me about it. Yeah. So, Mom, what they do is they'll look at, you know,

everything from toothpaste to automobiles to wireless. And they'll evaluate all of the commercials that go on TV, right? And in the wireless category, the second most effective and popular ad of all of them for last year was an ad that I did for Pure Talk. When I was literally sitting in this exact spot talking about a Medal of Honor winner, a guy named Clint Romishay, who was an ambassador for Pure Talk, who was on my podcast. And in the commercial, I basically talk about.

Clint and I hawk the book, he wrote, Red Platoon. And then I mentioned Pure Talk, right? It's a real simple ad that costs zero dollars to make. Literally, it's filmed on my phone sitting right here just exactly like this. This ad goes on the air and it's the number two performing ad in the entire year in all of wireless. Now, here's the funny part. In the ad, I talk about the fact that I like Pure Talk because they give a damn about the vets, right? They stand for something. And I talk about, you know, I had Verizon before this. And I just casually say in the course of this ad, look, I'm not saying Verizon doesn't stand for anything. I'm sure they do. I just don't know what it is. And then I go on. Well, this creates an absolute drama with the advertising agencies at the

various networks. Because Verizon spends $12 billion a year with a B in marketing, advertising, and promotion. Pure Talk lets me film these ads on my cell phone. So I film this ad. It goes on, and it is now like, it's a big deal. But at the same time, I film another ad on my phone about you. I talk about you asking me if Pure Talk was really that great and how they could be so much cheaper. And in that ad, I explain that I tell you, Verizon spends 12 billion a year. That's why they're so much more expensive. Long story short, because of that ad, I'm getting a bunch of questions now about whether it's like, did you really switch to Pure Talk? Do you really have the service?

So these are like people in the ad sales departments at the networks. People at Verizon probably, they need to know that you really switched. When you say you, do you mean you, micro or me? No. You, Peggy. Oh, I really did. I really did. I know.

In fact, it says Pure Talk right at the top of my phone. Show me. Show me. Put it up at the, put it right up at the camera. I want to see it. I want to see if there's anything personal on there. Can you see the word pure talk? Oh, I saw it, but it just blinked off.

Hit, refresh the screen again. Oh, okay. There you got up. Okay, yeah, there it is. Good. You did it. All right. All right, that's good.

So what I want to do when we're done recording this, let's make an ad for Pure Talk, where we just confirmed that you're actually my mother and that you really did switch. and we'll prove it, and then I'll send it to them, and we'll see if they'll put it on it. They probably will. Pure talk is, I mean, it's a great service, but they're so cheap that they won't spend any money on advertising.

So I'm going to send them an ad with me in it. I was worried. I mean, not worried, but you assured me that your service had not diminished, that your service was as good as ever. That's great. But I was afraid that maybe I wouldn't have enough little ball. cars here, you know, I don't know. But I do. Like I say, nothing has changed except the price. No, good. No, I mean, it's great. But we'll do it just like this. We'll do it on Riverside.

All right. We'll just put like a quick little script. It'll be fun. And I'll send it to them. And we'll see if they'll put it on the air. That'll be hysterical if you're game. Well, sure, I'm game. You're going to pay me for it? All right. Let's get your agent in here. And so it begins. No. You pay me with your time. This means two more visits.

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hire hardworking locals who cared about making a quality. product. And then they went about the business of gently reminding people that when you buy a piece of clothing from American Giant, you're not just buying a high-quality sweatshirt or t-shirt or another pair of jeans. You're investing in a local supply chain. You're supporting communities from the Carolinas to California. And you're getting a piece of clothing that won't just survive the wash. You're getting a garment that'll get better with age. Check out their high-quality staples, hoodies, tees, denim, built to be worn year after year at American-giant.com slash Mike.

It's quality you can feel and a true American success story that you can be proud to support. Use code Mike. Get 20% off your order at American-giant.com slash Mike. American Giant American Made. American Giant American Made. Well, look, the main purpose of this, A, happy birthday. Thank you. B.

It's been such a hard few months for the people who love you and everybody's been so worried. And I'm just so grateful and glad to see you sitting here. And the fact that you only see one of me and I assume just one of Chuck, or do you still see two of him? Well, I still, oh, just one of Chuck and I can look out my window and see one. flag across the parking lot. That's such an improvement, I can't tell you. And also, I mean, the worst thing is it makes you dizzy. I mean, it makes you unsure of your footing and where you are

and everything is just a little bit wonky, a little bit blurry, a little bit unsure of things. Listen, that patch, oh, those patches. cutting those patches out of construction paper, putting the scotch tape on there, sticking it to my glass. I finally stopped wearing them because they kept falling off.

One fell in my vegetable soup one day. And I couldn't just take it out because it's construction paper and it bled in my soup and so much for my vegetable soup. But you know the brain is amazing. It really allowed me when I was walking down a long hallway, I would see two hallways.

But instead of going straight, they crossed over. And it was so disconcerting. It just has given me an appreciation for normal eyesight. And you know what, Mike and Chuck, it has given me an appreciation for what other people are going through. I've met people here who are blind, several people who don't see. A woman came up to me at the Lakeside Cafe one day, and she said, I see you're wearing a patch. Tell me about it. I told her about it.

She sat down and she said, let me tell you my story. She said, when I was 35, I had a pain in my right eye. and went to the ophthalmologist, the doctor, or another doctor, I don't know where. And they determined that I had, he said, the bad news is you have a cancerous tumor behind your eye, and you're going to lose your eye. The good news is, I can save your life by taking out your eye. Well, I mean, that was really bad news, good news. And she said, they took my eye out.

I watched them make my new eye. I watched an artisan paint the exact color of my iris. It was so interesting. She said, there's nothing I can't do. I drive. She said, it's all about attitude and gratitude. Well, she just made me feel guilty for whining, you know. And I had done some whining about.

my double vision, but I just have such an appreciation and a feeling for people around me now who are struggling and have challenges that I can't imagine. Peggy, I have a friend who is going through something that's very strenuous. He had no hearing in one of his ears, his whole life, and he just had that cocular implant. with a cochlear. You know. Cochlear, I believe. Cochlear?

Oh my gosh. Without so much cock in it. Yes, yes. A cochlear implant. And they did the surgery and something went wrong. And now not only does he still not hear in that ear, but he has a terrible vertigo and dizziness. Oh, no. A dizziness that's worse than vertigo that where, you know, he's not short-footed.

he needs a walker or a cane to get around. And he's going through this very, very similar thing where, you know, he thought, oh, things are going to get better. And in fact, they got worse. And now he is struggling with the gratitude part. He has come around to that where he is just really thankful that he still has hearing in one ear. And he's grateful for, you know, that he's not one of the people who is completely deaf. Right.

Oh, there are, and living in a place like this, I am surrounded by people who have challenges that I don't have. And they're worse than mine, you know? Yeah. I know a lot of people with cochlear implants, and I didn't realize they could go wrong. Yeah, I mean, I would assume that this guy saw really good doctors out here in L.A., and for whatever reason, something went wrong. wrong. I don't know if it was if it was a mistake, malpractice or what, but it's been difficult for him. But he has, I talked to, he wouldn't even talk to me for a long time. He wouldn't talk to a lot of people, but I recently talked to him. And he went through this whole thing where he, you know, he was just

really down, depressed, sad that this had happened, angry, you know, and finally he tapped into his gratitude and decided to let go and just be grateful for what he did have and not be pissed off by what he did not have. Well, yep. And he's a lot better now. It's such a conscious choice, you know. That's the thing that's, look, we, our little sweat pledge, our foundation, the whole thing start.

Pledge eight. No, pledge one. No. Oh, the gratitude. Right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

It's the easiest thing to forget. I was thinking Pledge 8 because of the, you know, I will not whine or complain. I think that's Pledge 8. Sorry, I'm coughing. Daggone it. I'm not grateful. You've had a cold. Oh, God.

Yeah. I'm okay. I'm glad. Don't make me worry about you. Well, you know what? you probably haven't worried about me in months. That's good because there's nothing to worry about. I'm great.

I'm fine. And the next time you come to visit me, we now have a bed in our second bedroom. You can come and just flake out right here. Flake out? Well, whatever. Is that not a word? No, it's a word. It's expression.

I think it might be two words. Well, when you flake out, you like, don't show up. he flaked out he was supposed to be here at noon it's five o'clock we haven't seen him he must have flaked out oh yeah well

I think of it a little bit differently but but things are okay here you don't have to worry about us well our kitchen sink did get stopped up the other day but other than that everything else is okay two men came in

and fixed it their names were Donald and Chuck, and they talked for quite a while, and they are such fans of yours. They felt privileged to clean your mother's kitchen drain. What was clogging it, do you recall? Well, I don't know, but I think when you live in a place like this, the apartments are stacked, one on top of the other, so you have common pipes that are used by the people above, and we're on the third floor, and there are two, three floors above us. So I never know if a clog is coming from above or coming from below.

But anyway, it took them a while, but I think they wanted me to tell you about them. But they were Chuck and Donald, and finally, after a half hour or so, they left. And Donald said, well, I have toilets to plunge and out the door. they went. But, you know, that, I mean, yeah, there are some disadvantages of apartments laid out like this. However, there is a phone number, a phone, all I have to say is she'll probably do it. Hey, Siri, call general services, and they are on the line in no time. And they send somebody right up, and no matter what your problem is, they take care of it. So living here doesn't mean you'll never have problems, but it means that there's a solution, a phone call away.

I'm glad you're there. I'm sorry I'm not. I'm glad there's a bed there for me to flake out on next time I'm in the zip code. What are you going to do now? You're going to join Dad for a game of pool or are you going to write? No. No, Dad should be back very shortly. He might have come back and is flaked out in his lounger. I don't know. But he has, oh my goodness, this is shuffleboard tournament time. And he has a tournament two games at 615. His partner is Richard, our friend Richard, who never played shuffleboard until a couple of months ago. And boy, they've practiced and practice and they're pretty good. So I'll go down and watch them play. You go down and root for them. If you have time, I'm serious about that Pure Talk ad. It'll be funny.

We can make it lickety split and we'll see if we can't get it on the TV. because oh okay you know what people here are always talking about oh did you see your son on TV

your son was I just saw your son on TV this morning he was talking about and I say pure talk yes he was talking about pure talk

and so actually actually I caught I caught on ABC the other night I think last night or the night

before for the first time we don't want watch much TV. And I saw your commercial. And it looked like you were rucking, like you were walking fast and talking, probably had your cell phone.

I swear, people don't believe it. But that's the whole, that's the campaign. There's no ad agency. There's no production company. I walk around with my phone. I get to say whatever I want in my own words. And, you know, it's working. but now people, I need to prove that it's you.

Oh, okay. Because I made a claim in an ad that said my mom switched from Verizon to Pure Talk. So. Well, I'll tell the truth. You know, I always tell the truth. I know. Painfully sometimes, but I do tell the truth. I know.

It's been over an hour. Happy birthday. Thank you. Many happy returns. Yes, happy birthday. Thank you. On behalf of all your many, many fans, we're so glad to see you and so glad you're only seeing one of us. One of each of you, yes.

Yes. Well, when I went to my dentist, I was still having double vision, and he was across the room because he was taking care of Dad. And I said, I told him he had two heads. And he said, well, then you're getting the expertise from two dentists. here and I said, well, they better hadn't send me two bills. And they didn't. That's good.

Good. All right, mom. Oh, you know what? I just got a text from your sister. Oh. Huh. How's Jan doing? Pretty good, I think.

I haven't talked to her for a few days. But she tells me you're very popular down there where she lives in another Erickson community and that people read my books. This is so nice. She says, well, Mike, it's wonderful to join the celebrities and not have to do anything to get there. So many people are reading your mom's book about the home. So of course, people I don't even know are telling me how much they enjoy it or how it makes them laugh and then

cry. All good. Then one day, a young waiter here came up to me and said, are you really related to Mike Rowe. And yesterday, a woman that I met for the first time said her sister's friend's son was a roommate of yours in college, but she did not know his name. She said when she finds out, she'll tell me, and I'm sure she will. It's a very exciting life I lead here. Yeah, Janet's great, and she's had health issues. So we, you know, we commiserate sometimes. Well, you're in good company, mom. I'll respond to your sister for you. Oh, yes, you do that.

We talk frequently. Good. Say hey to dad. All right, honey. Well, this has been fun. Nice to see you again, Chuck. Same here. I'm glad that you're only seeing one of us.

Yes. I mean, one of each of us. Right. Yeah. Love you, Mom. Love you guys, too. See you. Bye-bye.

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