Hey, there, everybody. In this episode of Amy and TJ. What do Pope Francis and the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs have in comment? Well, they both made comment that many found offensive. What do they not have in comment? Well, only one of them has now apologized. Also, in this episode, the most dangerous, treacherous, and possibly stupid highway ride of my life happened over the Memorial Day weekend and Amy
Robach sat there and watched it happen. Also, what do you do when your partner wants to plan your next vacation to Jamaica but you want to take an Alaskan cruise? How do you resolve that issue? And finally, folks, at the end of this episode, we truly, truly hope you will pick up your phone and message the person who deserves a long overdue check in from you, and welcome with all that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
Roobes. Wow, I feel like I'm in the morning rundown. It's great.
Yeah, we got it with a lot's happened since we were on these mics last I guess.
Yes, But I like how the podcast is just mapped out. It's great, I know, where we're going. I know where you're taking me.
I like it. How about this? Where do you want to go first? I want to start and get it over with. The ride we took over the holiday weekend. Hope everybody had a good Memorial Day. It was some nasty weather up here that ruined the actual day for folks here in New York. But generally we were learning here from our producers in the room there was good weather or the weekend in New York, which is not Memorial Day.
Yes, so I think we had spectacular weather. I think is fair to say Friday, Saturday, Sunday. The problem was our travel days, which were Thursday and Monday, were not just not spectacular, they were downright treacherous, severe thunderstorm warning. Treacherous.
Would you say I said dangerous? Would you say stupid? As well? The ride? My ride was stupid. It was a stupid thing to do.
Well given your level of experience. Yes, yes, we.
Have to explain that, to have to throw in an insult as we were trying to tell this story. I'm trying, Andy, I'm trying to be open, right, I'm trying to be vulnerable. And you hear that, and he heard it. He caught it. I some no, it's stood out there or whatever. I'm have a motorcycle that I'll ride around the city here.
I love it. But we were going to a lake this weekend and took some time in Connecticut on the lake, and I was so excited get to put the bike on the road when this is my first actual road trip and beautiful ride out of the city, out of Manhattan. Oh, going on in the FDR. Well there, it's beautiful. How far did we get before things?
I think we just passed Yankee Stadium, okay, and all of a sudden the skies turned black. So I was in a car there it is in front of TJ. You were in a motorcycle behind me.
How was your real view? How was that rear viewer?
I honestly was looking back at you as much as I was looking forward, like I felt like I never took my eyes off you and the road at the same time, because I was worried about both for anyone even driving in these conditions, I could barely see. It was a flash flood. The skies opened up. It got so dark that you know when you're in your car when it turns to night and everything in the colors in your car changed to dark, like that's how dark
it was. My car thought it was night time. And there was lightning and thunder and rained so hard that you couldn't like. I was slow down to twenty five miles an hour.
And I am sitting on a motorcycle going down the highway. I mean, we best we could do. Still, people were hauling tails, so you had to get out of the way. Forty plus miles an hour. Cannot see a thing. I do not have on proper riding gear or weather gear, and I trucks were pat you saw it. Trucks were passing by. I was getting completely drink It was crazy.
I was looking back and thinking, oh my god, Like when a semi truck would come by you and push an entire like tsunami of water on top of you. I thought it might knock you over, just the sheer force of the water like cascading over you. And I I didn't know what to do. You had jeans, you were like soaked to the eventually had to pull.
Over once we had a little clear but we had we couldn't stop in the middle of the mess with the lightning. It was just too bad. You couldn't go in an overpass, it was even more dangerous. I had to just keep going. It was an adventure. And to your point, I've only been riding a motorcycle full time for I mean, this summer will make a year, so I don't do a lot of road trips, and so I don't have a lot of experience with this kind of weather and what you should do and all that.
So it was we got to where we were going, and it was a wonderful time in Connecticut on the lake. We didn't have the girls with us, no, no kids with us, so it was just the two of us.
It was peaceful and wonderful. No. No, no, we love our girls. We love when they're with us.
You're insulting everybody.
No, I was just teasing. But no, to your point, you said, you got like five years worth of driving experience in one trip, because it was just so much and you were excited to actually take it out on the road and not be at a stoplight, not you know, being able to take it above twenty five miles an hour, which is a speed limit here in the city. So I was so excited for you. I was encourage you to bring the motorcycle. I'm like, it'll be fun. And then when we get up there, Yeah, you were the
one push. I really was, because I know how much you loved the thing, and I knew it was like an opportunity to actually really learn what it can do and where it can take you and how much fun it can be. And then yeah, mother Nature had other plans.
Other plans, But we had a good time. It was a good trip. But part of this trip was discussing another trip. Everybody's just guiding about vacation right now. A lot of people are already decided, but we were trying to figure out where we wanted to go. You and I are not on the same page a lot of times with the types of trips we want to take, because we are not always on the same page with the types of activities we like to do on vacation.
Yes, basically I like to be very active during vacation, and you like to be very inactive during vacation.
None of this is an old, old look. In our careers, we've gotten a chance. I mean, it's a blessing to be able to travel as much as we do, but travel has become so much work and just getting through the airport and then for us getting somewhere and then hoot and just having to hit it when it's time for vacation, I don't want to do anything. I need a direct flight to an airport that's only two or
three hours away. Short flight, hop off, small airport, get me through, get me to my spot, and I'm gonna sit out.
So nothing I'm used to. I like direct flights too, but I don't mind changing to get to a off the beaten path location. And then sometimes when it comes to exploring, I like to hit at least two or three different hotels, go from city to city, so I can see as much as I possibly can in the period of time. So now I've got parameters of direct flight no more than eight hours, more than eight hours, and we have to stay in the same hotel the whole time.
Okay, what since do Okay, we're just different on this. I just unpacked these bags to get into this hotel, so in three days, you don't need to pack up again to travel to another hotel.
When you know you're doing that, you don't actually unpack your bag. You just kind of.
Live out of a bagel.
Yeah, you don't take the time to unpack it all because there's the I agree, that makes no sense.
This is not relaxing, is my point. No, no, no, again, it's a different type of vacation. But what you described is when I say vacation, that's what it is.
Well, sometimes you take a trip, sometimes adventure. Okay, sometimes what I like to do is you sometimes get the adventure in the beginning or and then the last half of it is the relax like I've done. Those those are fun. That's a compromise.
Okay, well maybe we'll get at that later. But we went round and round and round trying to figure out we have for weeks trying to figure out where we're going on vacation and to make the point where Okay, the types of places we were they were very few that we were both excited about. Right, Okay, you have your list. Okay, this is this is my list. We're gonna go back and forth. I got six here and no particular order online.
Oh you aren't in order?
Okay, no particular order. But this this is the list now, folks of the positive, these are the places we would go. All right, he's gonna go back and forth. I'll say mine first, Las.
Vegas, Italy, Cairo, Cairo, Cape Town, the Azores, I say it as it's the Azores.
We're not going there. We can't even pronounce it. Uh, Majorca, Copenhagen. I think that's five right?
Oh? No, no, I still have another one. Okay, I got port Oh, I said, Porto, Portugal.
Okay, Wow, different contents. Nothing in the States on your list, right? Okay? And that's very hard to narrow down. What do folks do we we have have narrowed it down. I woke up, what was it? I got up on Monday? Was it Monday? What day?
Was it? Monday?
Sunday? And you say, hey, I booked flights.
It's true. I just want ahead and booked them.
And I said, to where.
If we had gone back and forth so many times? What we did? I don't know if anyone else has done this, but we pulled up the Google flights and
it says anywhere. So give them like a two week period of time, and the month you want to go, and what airport you want to leave from, how many stops you're willing to take, which for us was NonStop only, which limits you significantly, And then and then you can select what classic you know travel you want to go in, and then it gives you the prices all on a map. So that narrowed things down. Because some places I would have loved to have gone, like Thailand or whatever, we're
just stupid expensive, so that immediately got ruled out. But it really it's cool you can kind of see what you get price wise for where you want to go. So that helped us narrow it down. So where are we going, baby.
Well we're will that's TVD. Wait, we had we have some time to cancel.
No, that passed. I told you twenty four hours. It's already fast going.
Well, we'll get back to y'all. We're just different in that way, and we're different in activities. We just like we learned this this well, we didn't learn this this weekend. I don't know who's a big hiker. Some people love hiking. You are one of those people.
I'm a big hiker, okay.
I am. I think I am firmly not just not a hiker, like I am an anti hiking movement, like I don't understand. Like, no, I don't want to go walk up a hill, but.
If it takes you to beautiful destinations and locations that you couldn't see in any other way or experience any of these wonderful talks along the way. So you're like working out without realizing you're working out, you're also achieving an incredible view or especially if you're going up a mountain, you can there's something that's kind of running a marathon. It's something you can say, wow, I did that and be proud of it because it wasn't easy.
Also, but that's not hiking. That's different type of like mountain climbing versus hiking. What the hiking I'm referring to and please correct me if I'm wrong. Folks, just go out for a nature walk if you will. That's considered hiking.
Yes, and I like that a lot. But I really like having like destination, Like I would like to go to Argentina to like, you know, the Patagonia area.
It's more climbing, is it not.
It's not climbing and hiking, it's both. Yeah, but yeah, and I like the idea of I don't mind backpacking and not showering for seven days, I don't mind staying on the mountain or what I was trying to convince you was like there are some really cool, like village to village to village, so you can hike into and you end up at a hotel at the end, so you don't have to do the tent. I get that. I wouldn't I know, you wouldn't like it.
Oh no, oh no, Okay, now you're throwing in camping. Okay, wait a second, no, no, no, no, no, no no. Let's go to the most rudimentary form of hiking, which is not at extreme elevations, which not to a village, which is not camping. I'm just talking about putting on the boots and you go outside and you just walk through the woods. Yeah. I am not necessarily a fan. I've done it before, and I've enjoyed it when i've done it, but it's not something that is really in me that I enjoy doing.
Right kind of yes, and so sometimes this is where I did appreciate you went on that kind of a hike with me this weekend, and unfortunately it different times of the year. It was a super buggy one, which I was bummed about because of course, no one likes to be like swarmed by nats and bugs and mosquitoes. And that was pretty much the entire time we were walking and I was like, I'm really sorry.
I didn't fault you for that, but this is one of those things. Everybody's been here before at some point in the relationship where you are doing a solid for your mates. Now you are actually, I'm going to an event I don't want to go to. I'm watching something I don't really want to watch. I gotta go be around your family and whatever some of those things may be. I didn't, sweetheart. You have watched eighty seven basketball games with me since March Madness and that in the NBA playoffs,
I'm gonna get mad you want me to walk. I'm not gonna complain about it, but it's just not something I don't know how. I guess we've done well affair, it's up to this point, but it does. It can cause issues in a relationship when you are that far apart on where you want to go and the things you want to do.
Yeah, because you also have said that you don't like packing a winter coat. That's not vacation. And see, I love going to places like Iceland, and I really want to go to Greenland, and you know, I love seeing different landscapes and different climate zones and you're not a fan of.
No, okay, but I like, I'm not a fan of being cold, right right. I like landscapes. They have beautiful ones all over the Caribbean, beautiful lands apes. But if you telling me I need a Canada goose coat for a trip I'm taking, that's not a vacation.
That's so funny.
That's an adventure.
Okay, that's fine. We could call it an adventure. So maybe we just every now and then go on an adventure trip and not call it vacation. And it doesn't have to be like I'm telling you, most every trip I'd ever been on had been some sort of adventure, like some sort of work or some sort of goal oriented trip.
Don't ever just go on a trip to sit down and get away and disconnect and relax.
I didn't do it very often, but I am learning to like that more. I get antsy, but I you know, we're both learning each other's I mean, we knew it, but it's a little bit of a challenge trying to pick a place, just wanting everyone everyone, We all want to have a good time. But yes, we have very different ideas of what vacation looks like.
Okay, is that. Okay, is vacation not really our problem we're fighting about.
No, I oh oh, I thought about that. No, I just I just think.
No.
You know what, though we are navigating I think pretty well each other's differences, Like we just like I can't make you like hiking. You can't make me enjoy watching eighty seven basketball games through March through June, but you.
Found a way. I mean, I have asked other things about the game you like. Yes, to your point.
You are on dred percent right, But it's like, isn't it all about compromise? Like I wouldn't want to just it would be boring if you liked everything I liked and I liked everything you liked. So we can challenge each other.
And isn't that what they say?
Though?
The thing is that you need to be You don't need to be different in the ways that are deal breakers, right. It's okay to have differences, but you need to be alike in those main those specific ways that are more at your core of who you are, who you both are. Ye, But yeah, the little stuff this is. But the hike was hilarious because I know you felt bad and I was behaving the whole time.
You never complain complaining one time. I agree. I have to give you full credit for Oh it was and.
Again I like, I was there with you, I was outside with you, I was talking with you. I think we were in discussing vacation. But it was tough because yes, it was bug, it was net and all this, and we ended up Does anybody know what you call it a meadow?
Yeah?
Can you easily quickly define what a meadow is? Does anybody like, off the top of your head, can you just say it? I've heard it. I get an idea of something, but we ended up in a meadow, and I'm like, what the what does a meadow?
Lots of ticks? Unfortunately, I think that's what that meadow was. It wasn't like that gorgeous rolling hill of a meadow. I think meadows like grassland on a noll, like just.
We talk about it.
It's a hill but a little bit bigger than a hill, but it's not a mountain. Okay, it spelled knoll? Oh my god?
Okay, No, you know what, if I hiked more, I would know what a metal and a nole was.
Probably. Well, don't worry, you got plenty of years with me to figure it all.
Out, all you know, and she just she comes right back and she brings it home, doesn't she. But though we will keep you all updated, we'll let you know where we end up for vacation, and if anybody has any weight, we could tip the scale her way or my way. We would love to hear how anybody else resolves any of their issues when it comes to vacations, because it is a big deal and you can't have one person pissed off on vacation the whole time.
That would not be fun. Although we see it all the time.
Actually it's one of the highlights of vacation looking at how annoying it is to everyone else when they're trying to deal with their spouse or their children while on vacation where you're supposed to I'll.
Be having a lot of fun, Like there's so much pressure.
You know what I have done that? No, okay, you know we talked about we'll get into this in another episode. But when it comes to sometimes being in the public eye, and this is not having anything to do with us being out there public couple, but just when I see so many couples that look so miserable, and I go man, I never want to look like that, never want to look like that. And I've said this to you at
dinner or sitting out somewhere. You're on your phone looking down and I'm sitting there just looking like an idiot because you're doing something on your phone. Like baby, we look like them.
We look to get off your phone.
I know.
We do make a point. And I have been worse about it than you and you have. I've been on my phone more than you. You are really, really, really good about not being on your phone.
Know why, Because I'm right where I want to be with the person I want to be with. I don't need my device.
That's very sweet, but it felt like a result. Yeah, it was our direct it was Yeah, I wasn't supposed to be subtle. I actually am into you versus no. So I I am always wanting to do better. But it's true, like you do. Look around and it's just a default. Everyone goes to their phone. You could be in the most magnificent place. I think we were, like literally one of the most magnificent places in the world in the French riviera, and we saw this family and
they were all no one was even looking. Oh like they all had their phones up and like the little ones had like you know, the big iPads, and like there just had blinders on to what was all around them. And I just it's easy again, one of those things it's easy to see in other people and other famili
it's harder to recognize when you're doing it. But when you do see that, it's always a wake up call, like what am I doing on this stupid device when I have all of this around me and the most amazing person right across from me.
I give you, I'm talking a little trash here, but no you're not. This has not been an issue for us. I poke you a little bit about it, but it is not an issue for us.
It's just that I think it's a habit more than anything. It's like, oh, you know, I need to be constantly stimulated at all times, so let me just you know, instead of just to your point, relaxing, unwinding, just being being still.
Yeah, you don't have to have an adventure on every vacation.
You don't, and I am. And honestly, my mom probably if she could be here right now, would just give you a huge thank you. She has always my whole life. Asked me to slow down. Why can't you just slow down? Why can't you just relax? Why can't you just be? And every time I was going off on these adventures, she was worried about me because adventures do usually involve some level of risk, and so she was frustrated by my idea of fun and my idea of adventure and travel.
So she's very happy to see me sitting peacefully somewhere and not dangling off the side of something.
Well, you stick with me. Your mom's gonna love your safe travel. The other thing we mentioned here at the top that we actually did a previous episode here about was Harrison Butker from the Kansas City Chiefs, the kicker there. This is a few weeks ago he made at this point, can remember the name of the college, but he made a to a Catholic school in Kansas. In Kansas, he made a commencement address that many people found offensive for
various reasons. They thought he was telling women to yes, you get your degrees, but your most valuable thing you could be doing is being a mother and being a white a homemaker. Yeah, so he hasn't apologized and by all he said, since it doesn't seem like he's gonna apologize, almost doubled down. He made another speech recently in which he, I mean, he acknowledged the controversy, but stuck to what his beliefs were about Catholicism and what he believed about the vocation of marriage.
That's fine, and he also, we should point out because we did at the time as well. He also talked about Pride Month in a in a very offensive way, and that angered a lot of folks, as you might imagine. In the LGBTQ.
No, and that one that was the one again we talked about it here to what, Hey, this guy has his right to his beliefs and a lot of these beliefs come from Catholicism, and that's fine. You can take issue. The LGBTQ plus comment was a kind of a throwaway,
a one line. He didn't delve into anything, and that was the only thing that came across as unnecessarily unnecessary and even mean, I think is what I said at the time, just one line in which he was saying he used the word pride about something else unrelated, and he said, no, I'm not talking about the kind of pride that has a whole month dedicated to it. It was just a throwaway line and he believes it. That's fine.
But you as you talked about here, I mean Catholics, Catholicism is very it's lots of people say, pretty clear when it comes to its views on homosexuality.
I mean the Pope has the current Pope, Pope Francis has given some folks hope that he was going to be more inclusive, and he's tried to be inclusive individually, but he reiterated that he does not the Church does not. The Bible does not condone homosexual activities. So yes, they are very clear on that.
So here we go now with Pope Folks Sai at the top. Pope Francis and Harrison Bucker have something in common, but the thing they don't have in common is that now one of them has apologized for comments that they made that came across as that were offensive to many people. And the person we're talking about now is Pope Francis, who was at I believe it was last week, a conference of bishops.
It was a private conference.
It was private, so yes, he will nobody, no recording devices in there. This wasn't for public consumption, but it came out of that, and initially tabloids, but then reporting by Italian newspapers that he made a comment, used a word that is absolutely a slur, a gay slur, in front of these bishops, and that has now gotten out right.
And I thought it was interesting. I guess you can't even keep a circle of bishops tight lipped. You know,
it's a gossip is everywhere? Is that kind of amazing that in this private, you know, bishop, you know, private meeting there at the Vatican, that somehow it would get out, and all of the newspapers, the Italian newspapers who cided what the Pope said, said sources, so more than one bishop apparently, or it got out told someone who told someone that the Pope made this slur when referring to not wanting gay priests or priests who identify as gay, who have an active gay lifestyle, or who even say
that they have deep seated feelings of homosexuality should not be allowed into the priesthood.
Now you got that word, because I was always fascinated by that line, deep seated homosexual tendency. So that's what it was. So we were discussing this earlier and discuss whether or not we wanted to do this at the topic on the podcast at all, and we decided no, we didn't because sources say. We always our little warnings go up. What sources yes, So we did and feel comfortable talking about it when it was sources say, and
this sword da da uh. Well, the Pope has now in just the past few hours since we came into the studio, has put out an official apology, an apology from the Vatican about the statement and the word that the Pope used, however.
Robes it's oddly phrased, it's.
Odd phrased, and I quote the Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he extends his apologies to those who felt offended by the use of a term as reported by others end quote.
It's not acknowledging that he said it, so it's acknowledging that other people said he said it. And if what people said he said offended you, he apologizes. That's I don't know. I just think that's unnecessary. If you're gonna apologize, just apologies. It's interesting he didn't own, he didn't deny saying it. Obviously he wouldn't have apologized, but he's not fully admitting that he said it, so it's I don't know,
it's a little strange. I was at first, really I was happy to hear because this is extremely rare for a pope to apologize for, you know, the Vatican, to release a statement like this of apology. And I also was hopeful because I thought, isn't that what it's all about. We all make mistakes. The pope is said, I'm a sinner. We're all sinners, So to hear someone apologize is so refreshing and wonderful, coming from the position he's in to encourage other people to do the same, to acknowledge, hey,
I shouldn't have said that. I guess I just was a little I was disappointed that it fell short of acknowledging that he said it, but I guess at least something's better than nothing. I don't know how far it goes, if it went far enough for people, I don't know what the reaction is. But obviously this has always been a tough topic for Catholics because I know, I personally
know and love many gay Catholics. A lot of homosexual folks who still want to be a part of the church, still want to be a part of a faith that they believe in and yet somehow feel ostracized by So I know the pope in recent years had tried to bridge the gap, saying he would bless people who were getting married, but not blessed the union. It was very specific. It's everything's threading a needle.
There you go, and it's just it's.
Frustrating because it it doesn't go into full acceptance.
There we go, and therein lies the problem. A lot of people gave Pope France has a lot of credit. Actually, even if you don't change the church's stance on homosexuality, you can still change the approach, you can change the tone and how you talk about and I think he has gotten credit a lot of credit for that. And so here we go with something to what you were just saying about homosexuality and gay marriage. He comes out, he says one thing, and then the next day he
has to come back and clarify. And that is what keeps people now like, h what is feeling better about it? Because now he said something that a lot of people say are absolutely wrong. He comes out and makes a statement, but still it seems to fall short. It seems to and I don't know any of this is lost in translation.
Some are arguing that what he said was lost in translation because he was speaking in Italian, even though I believe didn't he grow up in an Italian speaking household, So they say it was a colloquialism that kind of got lost. He didn't realize he was saying something that was that offensive. Maybe that's the truth, But at the end of the day, can't we give thee the benefit of the doubt?
Or should we?
Can we?
I mean, I feel like we should hopefully give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I mean, isn't that the spirit of what he's trying to say? And he's been trying to create a real feeling of unity and inclusion. It's just tough with any religion, but especially Catholicism. It's so storied in its history and dealing with so many, so many issues that we don't even have to get
into here. But obviously, you know, power corrupts, and you know there's a lot of cleaning up to do and a lot of making amends I think to a lot of folks who have felt offended along the way from the LGBTQ plus community. Two women as I've talked about earlier. So there's a lot of folks who do feel ostracized, and I know the church knows they have to do work to try and bring people back or at least include people into these conversations so that they don't feel
like they're ostracized. That's been a huge problem. So anyway, it's it's I just I was happy to see that he apologized, but a little frustrated it the fact that it fell short.
Yeah, I did it feel short. But again, here's this, I don't know. This is just one of those things and one of these stories that you keep trying to give somebody to have been with the doubt, but to somebody from the LGBTQ plus community that heard it first of all and was heard by it, and then you have to hear the apology. But there are some who've come out and are defending him in what he said, and we get, but this was the guy, right Who am I to judge?
We might to judge that was him. Yeah, and that went a huge way, A long way, you know, I mean, and that that has that that sentiment hopefully is something we can build on, I guess is the best way to put it, but.
Yeah, well finally here, folks, we hope if you've been listening to us here that when you finished listening to us, you'll pick up the phone and you will really give serious consideration to messaging someone that you have been putting off messaging for quite some time. Robot and I've been talking about this. I can't remember which day it was, but you saw my mood and my tone could totally change.
I got a message last week. Wasn't last week. I could probably look it up here, but from an old friend in Arkansas that was telling me that one of our colleagues had passed. And that colleague is someone that a lot of people are familiar with from television over the years, Alice Stewart, who was a CNN contributor, a political commentator, and she's been doing that for many, many years, but she also worked for Shoe Bachman's campaign, going to
Huckabees campaign, Tech Cruise's campaign. She is she has been an absolute force in Republican politics and circles for a long time. And I'm not sure if all of us as have been around enough you've got a chance to be around her, know her, or see her in some way form of fashion.
Yes, yes, she And I hate to say this because in this but we've called certain like she's a reasonable like I had to say reasonable Republican. I'm not trying to say that in any in any negative way for other Republicans. It's just you often find people who go on television who are on the left or the right, and they're there to stir the pot into make incendiary comments that a people are listening to them and react to them, and they can build whatever social media presence
are trying to do. But it's all for show. Very often it's not what they really feel or think. They're not there to be reasonable. They're not there to actually compromise. They're not there to actually to find a common ground.
They're there to be asked to come back correct right.
So that they can be you know, they can they can bring the fire, they can they can rally the base, they can say those things that pissed people off. And we've seen that obviously throughout our entire career. So it goes for both sides of the aisle. But she was one of the really reasonable, smart, amazing ones, you know, and she wasn't like the others, And maybe that's why maybe some of you don't know her name because she wasn't there to make a name for herself.
But she's been around for quite a while in Republican circles as just being known as a great communications director and strategist. But I loved her on television. A lot of people did, because she was never She was always respectful of the person sitting across the table. We can fight all day long and disagree about some issue, but it was never nasty. But alice for me. My second job out of college was in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the CBS station, but my first interview in that market
was at the NBC station. Now, have you ever heard of anybody doing this? My interview at the NBC station. They flew me down and I walked in. I had the morning I went to their morning meeting. They gave me an assignment. I had to go, handed me a phone book and a phone, gave me an assignment, and I was reporting for them that day. That was my interview. Have you ever heard of that? Okay me, neither. I've never heard that anywhere else.
And you were actually on television.
I was live on the air that day and you did it from the Little Rock post office standing next to a bunch of post office boy and you didn't even have the job yet, didn't have job. I worked that day for free. I didn't know. So this is not okay.
That's never happened in any of the job interviews.
That was my interview. But I went into that interview that day sitting in that newsroom. I remember where I was sitting, phone book and a rotary phone, whatever it was. And sister, that first one that came over and was kind to me was Alice Stewart, who was a reporter at ka r K at the time, the NBC station. So I did my reporting that day. She was cool as all get out. I was on the air because the reporter, the news director from the CBS station said, hey man, he called me, let me a message. I
got your tape here. I just looked up and saw you on TV at KRK.
Please don't do.
Anything before you come talk to me. That's a true story.
So their experiment blew up in their face and got me another job at the competitor.
Yes, but that put me in a position to where now I'm not working with Alice Stewart. She's my competitor for my years there, and she and I got close, and that was back in two thousand, two thousand, Yeah, and we remained friends to the day she passed, which was very recently. If you haven't hear, she was just out on a walk and had some type of medical emergency. No foul play or anything like that, so expected, but
she was one that I am. I'm glad. There are a bunch of friends of mine robes right now who, after all that you and I have gone through the past year and a half, they have gotten messages from me saying, hey, don't want anything. But I've learned over the past year or so that when somebody's on my mind, I do not hesitate to reach out and say hello. A bunch of people have gotten that message. And you
know what, Alice got that message from me. She got it in March and we went back and forth a little bit and she was having a busy day with something Trump related. But I saw her on and just reached out to say hello, And it's happened. It seems like a lot lately, but we just lose people on the spot on a dime.
Their dog is walking a dog.
Fifty eight years old, healthy marathon, her and she is actually one robes. Don't be offended. She was the first friend I had who was actually a marathon hew. And to this day, if you showed me a lineup of feet, I could pick out Alice's feet. I say that because I had a party at her place once over at her a place, she was talking to me about running, and she showed me her feet.
And anyone who is a marathoner knows exactly what you're talking about.
And I said, holy hell, I will never be a runner. But you know what I sit here now with what two miss now yep, And if I could do anything right now, I would show Alice Stewart my feet. If I could do anything, I would just do anything to be able to do that. So she was a gem. And man, it sucks to lose somebody, but something like that. So we hope folks do not hesit day for a second. There is somebody at the bottom of your messages that has a just sitting there you never responded. Scroll down.
They just make today the day. Don't don't hesitate to reach out and just say hello to somebody you do not know.
And I didn't know that you had just reached out to her and that's such an amazing feeling to know that she knew that you were thinking of her and that you were on her mind. She was on your mind, and you would never have known that that would be the last How many times in this past year have I looked back at the last message, never knowing it was going to be the last message? And it's just every time you see the headlines. We had a lot of celebrities this past few days that just met untimely
deaths at way too young of an age. And it's just a constant reminder to me in my circle, and I love the impetus to other people to think about it in that way, like you just can't take people for granted and assume that we've got tomorrow. So yeah, I'm going to do that when we get off the air and just check in.
Do you know who already? You're going to check in.
With my mom? It's been a while, No, you know what? I feel bad. I start to realize when it goes more than a week and I haven't called her, it's on my mind, And so I'm going to do that today.
Andy, who's on your mind? My No, No, Sydney, who's on your mind and Grandpa are all right, our two producers in the room telling us they're going to reach out to you.
Know what.
Lenny's on my mind, Byron's on my mind. Now talk to Montel this morning. There's several folks that, oh, I need to, I need to, I need to I need to. Oh I meanto, Uh that's no good, do it now, got to do it now. So, folks, we appreciate you always for spending some time here with us. By all means right into us on our Instagram, at Amy and TJ Podcast to let us know where we should go on vacation. You folks who prefer warm, quiet destinations. I
really would appreciate you chiming in. We should let people just vote on where we're going.
Maybe, yeah, we already bought the plane tickets, but maybe next time we did.
All right, all right, folks, let's talk the also sh