Armchair Anonymous: Kind Gesture from a Stranger

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Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Anonymous.

I'm Dan Shepard, and I'm joined in abstentia by Monica Padman.

Today's Armchair Anonymous is kind gestures from strangers.

And if that sounds too PG-rated, I will assure you that there is a gift within these kind gestures in the form of an unauthorized evacuation.

So it's going to deliver on all fronts.

Please enjoy kind gestures from strangers.

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Hard times, come and go.

Good times,

take them slow.

My life,

I had them both.

But one thing,

you gotta know,

I'm gonna keep them shining.

Is this Joanna?

It is Joanna.

Hi.

Are you under a bunk bed?

I don't have a real closet I can sit in in my house.

I am under my daughter's loft bed that i've kind of makeshifted you're at like a desk situation yes a little coffee table i made it homey under her

how old is she she is four and a half going on 15.

what part of the country are you in i am in north carolina right outside of asheville actually really rural out here but we love it Okay, please tell us about your kind gesture from a stranger.

This story takes place in Jacksonville, Florida, back in 2011 when I was about 19.

I was a local musician at the time and I was gigging at a restaurant downtown that I also waited tables at with my brother.

And this guy comes up after the show and was like, hey, you guys were really awesome.

I would love to come see you again.

Can I have your schedule?

Here's my business card.

He's really nice and kind of just left.

And we're like, oh, cool.

We'd love a fan.

So a few weeks later, we're playing the show again.

He comes up and he says, really liked your set.

Can I take you to lunch?

And we were like, maybe.

Why?

How old is the gentleman?

He's probably 48.

He's much older than me.

But my brother's with me and he's a pretty big dude.

And so I was like, I guess we could go to lunch.

So we schedule it and we go sit down at lunch.

We get our drinks.

And he says, point blank, I want to be able to help you with your music career.

What can I do for you?

And he says, I'm a defense attorney here in Jacksonville and I represent some really shitty people that do some really shitty stuff.

I have a lot of money and I want to be able to help the community.

I figured I liked your stuff, so I'd start with you.

Wow.

Yeah.

And Joanna, just quick backstory.

So for me, it would just be red flag galore.

I would have so hard of a time accepting that this could be true.

Monica, would you be skeptical or where would you be?

I'd be skeptical, but I would progress.

That's kind of where I was at.

I didn't get any weird vibes from him.

And so my brother piped up and he was like, we could really use a recording microphone.

And he was like, all right, great.

How much do they cost?

And he was like, about 300 bucks.

So he pulls out his wallet, puts $300 on the table, and he says, it's yours, no strings attached.

Go buy a microphone.

Oh, my goodness.

We get to talking and just kind of getting to know him.

And he's like, I bought this really crazy camera that I have no idea how to use.

Do you want to try to like film some music videos, some content?

Again, I know it sounds so creepy.

He's like, come to my basement.

We'll make a music video.

He was never just me.

He always had my brother come along.

It was never weird.

So we hung out for a little bit.

And then I was talking to him saying like, oh, I don't really have a lot of gigs lined up lately.

and the restaurant is kind of slowing down and he's like well I've got some work for you at my office if you want to come work so he sets me up with this job that I sent flyers out to people who had gotten arrested the night before

really quick how do you get that list of who's been arrested the night before you just go on the public webpage for Duval County and get the whole arrest list they have an address you just put a little stamp on it to send them a flyer

and that was going pretty well.

I was working for him for a few weeks and I was talking to him about this landlord situation that I was in.

I was suing my old landlord because he was an asshole and he stole a bunch of money from me.

And when I sued him, he was like, you're out of your league.

And he really didn't think that I had a leg to stand on.

So I was telling Richard, the lawyer, about this and he was like, do you want me to help you with this case?

And I was like, I mean, it's small claims court.

I probably don't need a lawyer.

He said, no, no, no, let me help you.

So this asshole that I had to track down with a private investigator, I had to go to judge's chamber because he tried to tell the judge that the process server didn't serve him.

He didn't know there was a court date.

So he skipped the first one and I had a summary judgment.

And so now he was trying to appeal that.

So I walk into the judge's chambers with a high-powered defense attorney behind me, my landlord about shittabrick.

The judge and my lawyer play golf together.

They're friends.

It's just great.

And my landlord's just deciding that he's going to really ride this ship home and say that the signature on the process server's pages is not his signature.

Lied to the judge's face.

And so Richard got up there and it was like a movie movie scene.

He pulls out a piece of paper that has his signature on it.

He's like, Do you not agree that this is the same signature as this one?

I mean, pinned him down.

Perjury.

Yes.

He actually says the word, Your Honor, I rest my case.

How hot is he?

He was like dad hot.

Yeah, sure.

After that whole ordeal, the judge looked at my landlord and just read him to Philip.

You've wasted her time.

You've wasted my time.

You've wasted the court's time.

Do not ever come back into my courtroom again.

So I got to walk out really victorious.

And I got to look at him and go, whose league am I in now?

oh

it was really exciting and so after that i worked at his office for a few more weeks and then he told me that he was going on a extended trip to colorado to see his daughter and i never saw him again wait he just disappeared off the face of the earth

richer did he never return to his practice i just looked him up and apparently he is now back in jacksonville but i looked back for him for about 10 years after that and i never really found that he was back he just disappeared and i've reached out to him a few times and never heard anything from him.

Is he okay?

He's in Jacksonville now.

So I'm hoping that he's okay now.

But your mind went to a great place, Monica, which is, is he okay?

And my mind went to, uh-oh, he had to run from something.

This is Jacksonville, Florida.

So maybe he was representing some kind of a drug cartel situation and he had to make himself scarce.

Maybe he's a witness protection now.

Could be.

And then it expired and he moved back to Jackson.

Yeah.

Really quick, when he disappeared, how did you know to stop coming to work?

He said he was going to be on a trip in Colorado for a while.

So we were just going to stop that for the time being.

And he said, I'll let you know when I'm back.

And then he just never came back.

I don't know why that reminds me of I worked at a fabrication place in high school when I was 15.

My boss called me into his office and he said, hey, it's your birthday Friday, right?

And I said, yeah.

And he said, it's your birthday.

Don't come in.

And I go, oh, okay, great.

And then he goes, yeah, and just call Monday and we'll see if we have any work.

It's like,

letting you go.

He fired me under the guise of you can have your birthday.

Are you still playing music?

Just for a hobby.

I've got two kids now, so it's not really conducive to gig life, but I play music with my husband.

I met him at the Middle School of the Arts in Jacksonville and we got married and had babies.

But my daughter is a musical prodigy.

I know every parent says that, but she truly is.

I believe it.

Well, Joanna, so nice to meet you.

And that's a really great story.

And it's positive.

And it never turned dark.

I hate that I'm now this person.

Oh, you're putting on the Dax hat.

A little.

I'm like, maybe he was on drugs and manic or something.

He used his mania for good.

It gets a little on a tear.

It's inconsistent for you.

I think he was just kind of lonely looking for a buddy.

But you do paint a good picture.

Let's just say everything went sideways.

I fucked up everything and I was divorced.

I was loaded.

I think I would hate myself.

And if I could help a stranger, it might buy me little periods of feeling okay about myself.

Well, and then that's okay.

That to me is it fine.

But if he was bipolar or something and then it was in his mania.

Also, that's fine if he did.

I came out ahead.

It was still a very kind gesture, regardless.

I'm just delighted he never got pervy.

Me too.

That's all we care about, really.

Me too.

Dax, I do have to tell you, my husband will kill me if I don't.

We watch Employee of the Month at least once a quarter around here.

It's one of our very favorites.

Q1, Q2.

Once a quarter.

That makes me so happy.

I never talk about that movie, but I really do think that's the most fun I've ever had playing a character.

That's the only time I got to play it, just a straight prick.

And it was solido.

No, this was more fun.

Wow.

It makes us laugh.

And I also have to say, I used to live out in an even more rural part of North Carolina where I didn't even have service to drive home.

And so I would download your episodes and listen to you in my very windy drive.

And so I think I've spent multiple thousands of hours of listening.

And I love being a part of this community.

I'm so thrilled.

Oh, that's so sweet.

That's a kind gesture.

Yeah.

Well, it's lovely meeting you.

Thank you so much.

Have a great day.

I'm kind of nervous about him.

Pretty exciting.

Well, I just am sad he dropped off the map.

It is interesting.

Do you think the kid had a disease?

No, God.

I'm just, something happened here.

He just took a lover.

Well, how about this?

He went to visit her.

And as he already said, he's loaded.

He's going to spend two weeks with her.

And then he was like, I have the option to just be around my daughter.

And maybe she had a family.

And he just decided I'm going to be present and there's a grandkid in there.

What am I going home to?

More money?

How do you know there's a grandkid?

Because he's visiting his daughter and the daughter has a baby.

How do you know?

I don't.

I'm just saying that's a good scenario.

Well, he was only like 48.

He had a kid at 20.

His daughter had a kid at 25.

The child's three years old.

Wow.

All right.

Maybe that is what happened.

I hope so.

Yeah.

I'm glad he was dad hot.

Rob, do you think you're dad hot?

You're way beyond dad hot.

i don't even know what it means i do it means you're fine looking but you're a dad so you're trustworthy and you've like got some brownie points i think it actually means like you were hot and you're aging nicely but you're older i think it means you were a pass in high school but now you've demonstrated that you're very responsible and competent so that ups your attraction people can weigh in on what they think in the comments

try to define dad hot for us and then mom hot yeah and then baby hot and then tell us us what hot baby is toddler hot is hot toddler hot toddy hot toddy do you think that's what it stands for

oh my god that's disgusting

hi how are you we are wonderful what a glorious recording instrument you have yeah my husband is very musical so we have lots of musical equipment around our house so when he heard i was coming on the podcast he was like i've got you we've got a blanket screwed onto the wall in our closet we really work shopped it yesterday and chelsea would it be fair to assume all this gear has driven you nuts over the years, but now it finally has come to benefit you?

Yeah, it's finally come to pass that it's actually useful.

Okay, so where are you, Chelsea?

I am in Kentucky.

Are you watching Chase for the Crown?

It's about the triple crown.

It's on Netflix.

It just came out.

It's about horse racing.

I haven't, but I'm actually in Louisville and it's Derby Week.

That's why I bring it up because it makes me want to go to Louisville so bad because it's so freaking green and hilly and beautiful.

Do you have a hat picked out?

I'm actually not going to the track this year.

I've gone the last two years.

Should I go?

Is it a great time?

Yeah, you totally should come.

We're such a good food city.

It's like gorgeous scenery, and going down to the track for Derby is a blast.

I should have built a house there instead of Nashville.

I feel like you've made a lot of mistakes in your life.

Do you have any lakes?

We've got some smaller lakes.

We don't have as many lakes as Nashville or as Tennessee.

Okay, I feel less bad now.

We do have a river.

Okay.

No, no, no flesh-eating bacteria.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Okay, Okay, so you were the recipient of an act of kindness.

I was.

It's the summer of 2018, and I've just graduated college, and I was waiting on my first real big girl job to start.

And so I'd picked up a couple gigs as a second shooter for some local photographers.

And if you're not familiar with second shooting, the photographer basically hires you to be an extra body with a camera.

You're getting some of the background shots, some of the wide-angle shots, but you're not really in charge of anything.

And a lot of times, second shooters aren't professional photographers themselves, myself included.

What was your degree in?

My degree was in economics.

What if you said photography?

Because I'm not really sure.

No, I'm actually not a professional.

I'm not that good at it.

Although I'm now getting my PhD at English.

So I did like a hard pivot.

But yeah, so I'd picked up a few gigs and I'd worked one wedding with a photographer.

We'll call her Jane.

And this wedding that Jane and I had worked together went really well.

We got along.

And so she texted me about a week after the wedding and said, Hey, I am shooting a surprise proposal next week at a park.

Would you come along to get some of the wide angle shots for me so I can get the detail stuff?

And I was like, yeah, sure, why not?

So it's summer in Kentucky, which is miserably hot outside.

Okay, 95 degrees, 100% humidity.

You walk out your door, you're like sweating your ass off.

And the proposal is going to take place at a park and it's going to be scheduled for the middle.

middle of the afternoon.

So like hottest part of the day.

So the day of the event comes around and Jane is pretty insistent that we drive together because the park we're going to is about 30, 40 minutes away from where we both live.

She's like, we can save on gas money.

Let's go together.

I'm a little skeptical because I don't know Jane very well.

Like we got along fine enough, but I'm like, this is going to be a lot of small talk.

Like I'd rather listen to a podcast in the car or something on my way.

But she's pretty insistent.

I'm like, sure, why not?

So we drive.

It's fine.

We make our way to the park and park in the parking lot.

And she's sort of giving me the lowdown on how this is going to go.

The proposal is going to take place at this big overlook at the top of a giant hill.

It's gorgeous.

You can see for miles.

Perfect place to get engaged.

But to get to the overlook from the parking lot, you have to walk up this really long winding path to get to the top.

It's like a wide concrete path.

And you can think about it kind of like a giant switchback.

It's kind of like in a U shape.

And to get to the top, it takes like 30 minutes.

Oh, Jesus.

It's a full height.

Yeah.

So the plan for the couple is for them to park and take this nice leisurely stroll through the park.

And then he'll propose at the top.

So, Jane and I get out of the car, and she's like, You know, I really feel like we could save some time if we find an alternate path up to the top of this overlook.

Okay, she's going rogue.

She's like, I'm looking at the map, and I see that if we avoid the long winding path, we can cut straight up the side of this hill through the woods.

I'm like, this is not what I signed up for today, but okay.

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You know, I have to say, here we are in Nashville.

I'm enjoying it so much.

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So we make our way up this hill.

I really am shocked we didn't get poison ivy.

We're like pushing branches out of the way, climbing over logs.

It's really intense.

We've got camera bags on our shoulders and it's so miserably hot outside.

So I'm like, oh my gosh, we're both panting.

We're most of the way up to the top.

And Jane's like, I really need to find a bathroom when we get up to the top.

Jane's become unhinged.

It's a public park.

I'm sure there's a bathroom up at the top.

We're a little closer and we can now see the path.

Can I pause you for one second?

I know what happened.

Do you?

No.

I was going to suggest she has to poop.

Yeah.

She was like, I'm not going to make this 30-minute walk.

So we have to get there fast.

Oh, that's your theory on why she was high-tailing it.

Mine was more like, if you got a squirt in the woods, you would just squirt in the woods.

She's not going to take a shit in the woods next to her.

Although it is incredibly steep.

So I do think it would have taken quite a lot of balancing to find a spot to appropriately go to the bathroom.

But anyway, we're making our way up to the top and she's like, no, I like really need to find a bathroom.

I then hear the loudest stomach grumble I've ever heard in my life.

She starts screaming, pushes her way out of the woods, runs across the wide concrete path into this little grassy clearing where there's woods behind her, but she's not under any coverage.

She's out in the open.

She starts halfway taking down her denim shorts and starts shitting her pants.

And frame.

Oh, no.

And she's just standing there, pants halfway off,

just screaming like, oh my gosh, like I'm so embarrassed.

Don't look, don't look.

I'm so embarrassed.

Her face is red.

You can tell she's in a lot of pain.

And when I say shitting her pants, I mean it's like liquid and spraying.

Like I've never seen diarrhea like this.

And she chose a clearing.

Yeah, it's like she couldn't control herself.

She just had to get them off and start going.

And the poor thing couldn't stop.

It was coming in waves.

So she would like have one around.

She thought it was done.

And then it kept coming, kept coming.

So I'm just standing there in the middle of this wide concrete walking path.

I don't know what to do because I don't really know this person.

So I'm like, do I need to walk away and give her privacy or do I need to offer her help?

I just don't know what to do.

She's clearly embarrassed.

Yeah.

She's like, you have to go find something to help us clean this up.

And I'm like, okay, because we have nothing on us.

Okay, meaning her person.

Her person, it's gotten all over the place.

Like it's running down the back of her legs.

It's like in her shorts.

It's a real mess.

And I'm like, okay, there's probably like a public bathroom at this park.

I can go look for something.

She's like, well, before you go, can you check my phone?

Because she can't check her phone because there's shit all around.

So I

grab her phone and I look to see that the future groom has texted

and said, hey, we parked in the parking lot.

We're on our way up the path.

Okay, so now imagine this like an action movie where there's like a timer in the corner and we've got maybe 25 minutes to get this all cleaned up and go get in position before the couple is up at the top of the hill like ready to get engaged and that's assuming she's had her last wave of it and we also don't know how fast the couple is walking and is the couple gonna pass you yes so we are still about two or three hundred yards away from the overlook probably but i mean she's standing right off this path so the couple will walk right past the spot so i take off sprinting further down the hill to try to find a bathroom And I finally find one and I'm like, okay, perfect.

Try to get in.

Everything's locked.

I'm like climbing on things, trying to push through the window at the top, can't get into this building.

And I have to then make a calculated decision.

I can keep running further down the hill, but I don't know if there's a bathroom there.

And I also risk running into the couple and not being able to stop them in time until they come across Jane standing there covered in her own shit.

And so I'm like, I just have to go back up to where Jane is.

So I go back up the hill.

Poor thing is like sticky, covered in her own poop.

She is using leaves and branches to try to clean herself up.

And it's 95 degrees and humid.

So the smell that's wafting up into the air, this is a nightmare.

It's a horror movie.

And so we're just kind of standing there at a loss.

We have a timer ticking down and we have no way of cleaning this up because we're wearing like shorts and a tank top.

Like we don't even have extra clothes on us.

And Jane is certain that she doesn't have anything in her car that can help us because she just cleaned it out.

And Jane also can't just go hide in the woods and let me do it because the couple knows her personally.

And so if the groom shows up to the engagement and Jane isn't there, he's gonna be like, red flags are going off and it could risk ruining the whole proposal.

Then out of nowhere, we hadn't seen a single soul at the park yet that day.

We look toward the direction of the overlook and this lovely middle-aged woman is jogging in our direction.

She's very fit, very in shape.

And I'm like, this poor woman doesn't know what's coming.

So I flag her over.

I'm like, ma'am, excuse me.

She gets close to us.

She looks horrified.

Like it stinks.

There's poop everywhere.

She's like, what should I just run across?

I'm like, ma'am, we are clearly in a situation.

We're photographers.

We're here shooting an engagement.

The couple is on their way.

We have no way of cleaning up this poop.

Like, do you have anything?

She's looking very skeptical, but for some reason is nice enough to agree.

You know, I think I have some like old beach towels or something in my car.

I can run down to my car and look.

And I'm like, okay, but here's the catch, ma'am.

You can't go down the normal path because you're gonna run out of time so I ask this poor woman to please cut down the very steep hill back down to the parking lot and she by some miracle says okay sure oh what a good Christian woman seriously like that's southern hospitality she runs down the hill Jane and I are standing there she is so embarrassed like can barely look at me in the eyes I'm trying to be like it's okay it's okay you know it feels like a lifetime that we're standing up there but it was probably 10 minutes 15 minutes the woman comes running back up she has a bottle of hand sanitizer and these old musty beach towels.

And she's like, yeah, you guys can obviously keep these.

We don't get her name.

We don't get her phone number, her address.

I have no idea who she is, but we just say, thank you so much.

And she takes off finishing her jog back down the path.

And we never see her again.

And so anyway, Jane uses the hand sanitizer and the towels to wipe up as best as she can.

Sure.

Yeah.

There's only so much you can do without a shower.

She pulls her denim shorts, fastens them, turns around, and there is just like a huge shit stain on the back of these denim shorts.

And I'm like, okay, well, we gotta go.

They're five minutes away.

So we make our way to the overlook and she's like, here's what's gonna happen.

You're gonna do the shoot.

You're gonna take my camera.

I'll get the wide angle shots and just stay far away.

So I'm like nervous because I'm not a real photographer.

But anyway, we go hide in the bushes.

The couple comes up.

They get engaged.

It's lovely.

They're so happy.

The girl is crying.

I get some nice detail shots.

Jane is waving at them and like strategically maneuvering to like keep her backside away from them the whole time.

And then they say thank you so much.

They take off hand in hand back down the hill.

They had no idea.

No idea.

And Jane had to stay far away because she smelled like shit.

Anyway, we cut back down through the woods back to the car and Jane had insisted on us driving together.

So she had to sit on these dirty beach towels the whole way home and it smelled like a port-a-potty.

Did you guys discuss?

Did she go like, yeah, I fucking ate some shrimp tacos?

That's what we were trying to figure out.

I was like, did you get food poisoning or something?

Because she seemed fine after that.

She dropped me back off at home and made me swear that I was never going to tell a soul.

Sure.

So I was like, you know what?

I'm not going to tell anybody.

I promise.

So I get back to my apartment and my roommates are like, how'd the photo shoot go?

And I'm just like.

It was great.

No.

I sat on this story for like a year and then I ended up running into Jane at an event and she was laughing about it and was like i don't care you can tell people it's so funny so then i was able to unburden myself i gotta commend her on her work ethic she didn't fucking bow but this is like a movie it's so high stakes a proposal if this woman hadn't been on her little jog this couple's engagement story would be so radically different she really saved the day i wonder if the couple though on their stroll up when they passed that little clearing they're like did you fart that could have also unhinged the engagement if she was like God, Brad, always we're doing this nice thing, and you can't even not fart, or he's like, Oh, no, she smells.

Should I do this?

Yeah, truly the wildest thing I think I've ever experienced.

Wow, oh, I love that.

I was not expecting a boop your pants story in the middle of gestures from a stranger, so what a blessing.

Yeah, I listened to the crazy proposal story episode.

I was like, I should have written this story, and I saw the kind gesture, and I was like, Oh, yeah, this woman, she's a hero.

I'm trying to think.

I would say, Yeah, I have stuff in the car.

You can come grab.

No, no, I would help, but I wouldn't go the steep way.

Because I'd be like, I might fall and die.

I would have been like.

No, because then she would have thought that was a scam.

I was going to say, I would say, what's your car?

Give me your keys.

I'm going to run down, grab them out of the trunk, and I'll run back up.

But then she probably would have been like, oh, this whole thing's a scam to steal my car.

Right.

That's why Fake Duty.

An elaborate plot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Super sophisticated ploy to steal a car.

And you've left someone behind as a witness, too.

Oh,

Chelsea, that was great.

That was fun.

Thanks for letting me share it.

Can I have two friends come say hi really quick?

They happened to have the day off work and they are the biggest arm cherries that I know.

And Dax, you are my friend Rebecca's biggest celebrity crush.

Hi.

How are you?

And this is Brian.

Good.

A long time listener, first time caller.

This looks like everyone's charing a coffin.

Basically.

And are you a Kentucky native?

Yes, all Kentucky natives.

Oh, the blue grass.

Well, it's lovely meeting all of you.

You too.

Yes, lovely to meet y'all too.

Okay, bye guys.

Bye.

Thank you guys.

Hello.

Hello?

Is it Janae?

Yes, it is.

And where are you at, Janae?

I'm in Abington, Massachusetts.

Okay, so you received a kind gesture from a stranger.

Yes, I did.

During the height of the COVID pandemic, so about May, my husband and I had just found out we were pregnant with twin girls.

And so that was a bit of a shock.

But at the same time, we also had horrible news that both of my parents had been diagnosed with cancer.

Oh my God.

One right after the other.

So my dad with a rare skin cancer and my mom, lymphoma.

So they had lived in New York at the time.

And so when they found that out, they decided that they needed to move close to Boston to be able to go to Dana Farber.

It's like the best cancer center you can go to.

So we needed them just as much as they needed us for support.

So we were at a point where we were ready to look at buying a house.

And so we decided, why not look into like a multi-generational house with an in-law suite during COVID?

It was like finding a needle in a haystack.

So my parents were still in New York.

They hadn't quite come out yet because we didn't really have a place to live yet.

So it was my husband and I really looking at all these places.

So I was super pregnant.

I was probably six months.

Our realtor was like, oh gosh, you gotta find them a house.

So he knew the ramifications of it wasn't just us, but it was my parents that needed a home too.

We finally found a house that had everything we needed.

It was a complete separate apartment that my parents could live in on the lower level and we were in the upper level, had everything we needed.

It felt like it was perfect, but it was $100,000 over our budget, which was just too much over at that time for us to be able to make it work.

Needless to say, we were heartbroken, but we still decided to put in an offer and it was below asking, obviously, hoping that the sellers would come down a little bit.

And they did.

They countered our offer, but only by 30,000.

It helped, but it was still not enough.

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Yeah, the budget part is huge because scoring a great deal is one of the last socially acceptable forms of bragging.

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So we kind of let it go and we thought, all right, this isn't going to happen.

We're just going to keep looking.

But a couple of days later, we got a call and the sellers had accepted our offer, a difference of $70,000.

And we were stunned.

I was like, did the realtor tell them a sob story about us, pull the cancer card?

But he didn't mention any of that.

We felt so lucky.

We cried tears of joy.

We were so ecstatic.

My parents moved in.

They started their treatments and we were getting ready to welcome our twins.

So we never really heard.

anything from the other realtors at that point.

It just was done and all was taken care of.

But a year later, we found out the truth.

Our realtor had come to us.

He was so kind and he said, I couldn't let this go and I couldn't see you guys without this perfect home.

So he had decided to pay the $70,000 difference.

Our realtor, dude?

What?

He debated even telling us.

I didn't want to make it about himself.

Did you know

him prior to working with him?

Were you guys friends?

I had heard of him as a realtor before, but no, we didn't know him.

Wow, that's extraordinary.

It was amazing.

And to this day, I don't really have the right words to express to him how thankful we are.

And he didn't want anything in return.

We invite him over and we have barbecues in the backyard and things like that.

But we call it our miracle house.

And now my twin girls are four years old.

They're just a joy.

And my mom's cancer is gone.

My dad's cancer is very stable.

Wow.

That's amazing.

Oh my gosh, how wonderful.

Yeah, that's spectacular.

And you still love the house?

You've been there for four years.

We love it.

That's wonderful.

Well, if you sell it, make like a huge profit.

We'll definitely have to find a way to pay it forward.

That's a beautiful story not shocking because one of the greatest gifts of generosity i received was when we were stranded at the airport in boston and those kind people in wellesley hosted all of us that was mass holes going against the stereotype yeah not everyone is terrible

did you watch the jerry springer documentary by chance on netflix no i haven't oh i gotta tell you just the funniest a if you watch it you'll be like i can't believe that was on television and we just accepted that that's one shocking shocking thing.

But then the other funny thing is they had a rule on Jerry Springer.

No guests from Boston.

Oh my God.

That was like a hard rule.

Really?

Yeah, because they had so many guys from Boston come on.

They were either lying or they had made up their story.

They just wanted to get on TV and raise hell.

And so I think that's a real feather in the cap of Boston.

All Bostonians banned from Jerry Springer.

Too crazy for Jerry Springer.

Wow.

I just have to say, I'm a brand new armchair.

Oh, exciting.

I know you get a lot of people who have listened from the start, but I have a 30-minute commute to work home and back.

And so I thought, I need to find some new podcasts.

And I stumbled upon it.

And I've been listening since.

Oh, welcome.

What guest brought you in?

It was just one of the anonymous.

It was one of the nurse stories.

So I started on a good one.

I was just telling my mother-in-law, who's a nurse, that there's nothing more dependable than the nurse prompt.

It's a good one.

Well, thank you so much.

Yeah, thanks so much.

Thanks for having me.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

Hi.

Hello.

How are you?

I'm so excited.

I'm great.

Where are you, Georgian?

I am in Terrell, Texas, which is about 30 miles east of Dallas.

It's the hometown of Jamie Fox.

Oh, nice.

Oh, that's a feather in y'all's cap.

Yeah, it's great.

Okay, so you were the recipient of some kindness.

The story takes place in Friendswood, Texas, which is kind of down the Houston area, area, right in the shadow of Johnson Space Center.

And when I was nine years old in fourth grade, I could not decide if I wanted to be an astronaut or a teacher.

Then the most amazing thing happened.

My teacher, Peggy Lathlane, was named one of the finalists for NASA's teacher in space program.

Oh, wow.

So cool.

She had, I'm assuming, a sabbatical.

I don't know.

She didn't like clear it with the nine-year-olds what was happening with her release time, but she wasn't there.

She would come back and give us updates on the training that she was doing with the space program.

And we had little experiments that we got to design that the teacher in space was going to take up on the challenger.

So, of course, we were so sad that she wasn't selected to be the teacher in space.

Well, as soon as you said this, I'm back in fifth grade watching it live in my classroom, and I'm terrified for what's coming.

Yes.

So, January 28th, 1986, I will never forget Miss Cheever came in the classroom and told us to come to the carpet.

We knew, of course, that Ms.

Lathlane hadn't been selected, but we were excited because we were told that our experiment was still going on board the shuttle and that Krista McAuliffe was going to come to our school and share all of the findings from our experiment.

I'll never forget sitting on the carpet and watching her chin quiver as she told us what had happened that the challenger had been lost.

You guys weren't watching it live.

No, because our principal, it was such a big deal for our school and our community that she had this foreboding feeling like if something terrible happened, she didn't want us all watching this collective traumatic experience.

Yeah, yeah.

I was devastated, as were so many of our class, sad for our teacher and for those families.

And then for me too, I had been so excited that I don't have to choose between being an astronaut and a teacher.

I can do both like Miss Laughlain.

And a little part of that dream died for me that day.

So by the time I got home from school, I was nearly inconsolable.

And my mom owned a flower shop and we lived in an apartment above the flower shop.

I'm just sobbing by the time I get off the bus.

And she says, I want you to go upstairs, just take a breath, get a snack.

It's going to be okay.

About an hour, hour and a half later, I come bouncing down the stairs.

And she's like, Georgianne, you seem so much better.

I'm like, well, I am.

I called NASA.

And she's like, you did what?

I said, yeah, I called NASA and I talked to my teacher.

And she told me she was okay.

And that.

I'm okay.

And I feel better.

I remember very vividly marching up the little stairs.

I pulled out the yellow pages from under our counter.

So Monica, other young people, it was this big book of phone numbers.

Oh, I know a yellow page.

I looked up the number for Johnson Space Center and called.

The operator there connected me to Cape Canaveral, where my teacher was to watch the launch in Florida.

So when my mom tells the story to this day, I am the hero of this story.

Can you believe me?

She was nine years old and called NASA.

But really, as I have reflected on that so many times in my life, and I tell this story often in different contexts, is that really the hero of that story was an operator.

She was the operator on the worst day.

Can you imagine what NASA was like that day?

The calls that were coming in, the devastation, the grief, the hurt, and a stranger, she didn't know me, but heard this sad, scared little girl.

She could have easily said, honey, your teacher's in Florida.

She's busy.

I can't find them.

Bless your heart.

But she took the time to connect me to Cape Canaveral to find someone there who went to track down my teacher and connect that call to a private place.

And I really remember Miss Lathlane saying, I'm okay.

And you're okay.

And it's all going to be okay.

There's just a lot of times in my life and in the work that I do that I tell that story, but just the reminder, the acts of kindness that we get to perform to people we know and don't know is what is going to make the world be okay.

You're right.

It can have a real lasting impact.

And a domino effect.

Yes.

Yeah.

What a hero she is.

An unsung hero.

I never was able to track her down and find her, but if she happened to be listening, thank you.

Because she made a difference like all these years later yeah that's pretty radical story what a day that was because we watched it live and every class was watching it all that the teachers started crying the explosion was one thing that was alarming but it was seeing all of our teachers which we didn't think cried that was really unsettling I was like, oh, the adults are really, really all scared right now.

It's like the defining moment of my childhood.

One of those, you know, where you were.

Wow.

Well, George Ann, that's a very sweet story.

Yeah, thanks for sharing it.

Thank y'all for giving me the chance to.

We have some of the biggest arm cherries in our house.

Can I get them in?

Yeah, let's get them all in.

So my husband, Matt, and then this is our biggest fan here.

This is Mitchell.

He is our college kiddo.

He just finished a final for Connolly Masters.

Congratulations.

I'm thinking I want to play this cool, but there's no way I'm going to fail miserably.

I have to send a very profound thank you to what what you guys do as parents raising boys it can be really scary because we want our boys to be manly men but we also want them to be sweet and kind and dax you have created this model for what that can be that you can like muscle collars and sports but be an engaged dad you can work hard but be a caring and loving husband you can be tattooed and ripped and also be curious and empathetic and kind.

And Monica, as a young, beautiful, intelligent woman, you have made that okay.

And not just okay, but preferred.

I so appreciate the gifts that you guys bring the world.

And I hope that is not lost on you.

The notion you thought you were going to botch this, that was incredible.

Overwhelming.

This guy right here, Mary, a week goes by that he and I don't connect about something that we heard or learned on Armchair Expert.

Mitch, did you want to say something?

My little brother and I grew up.

absolute fans of Zathura.

You kind of got us into bonding over movies and stuff like that.

And then I started listening to the podcast, and both of y'all have seriously just brought me so much knowledge and comfort and happiness in a lot of difficult times, especially going through college and stuff like that.

And thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

I'm such a big fan.

Oh, this family, y'all made our day.

He just finished a final, and he was like, if I have to fail the final,

but he didn't fail.

He did great.

Okay.

Well, thank you.

You truly, truly made our day.

Thank y'all.

It was a joy.

Take care.

Oh, Oh, man.

Sweet family.

That was delightful.

That was a nice family.

Hey, you intelligent, beautiful woman.

Listen, I don't want to go to space.

No, me neither.

Well, I used to want to until we interviewed the astronaut and I found out it's not pleasant up there.

Headaches, can't sleep, bursts of gamma rays in your eyes.

They're closed.

You can't shit.

Yeah.

I loved this prompt.

Me too.

And it has made me feel like I want to do something very nice for someone.

Yeah.

Today.

But I am going to the Beyonce concert.

That's a good thing to do for Beyoncé.

That's something.

That's a kind gesture I'm doing for her.

What if Beyonce was on a podcast about kind strangers and she said, this girl, Monica, I didn't even know her.

And she bought a ticket to come see me perform.

And she bought my merch and she cut in line.

Okay, yeah.

This isn't a good day for me to do it.

I'm probably going to receive a kind gesture from somebody.

Yeah, you're going to do a little taking today, probably.

No, I'll buy everyone in line a shirt.

Oh, wow.

I can't commit.

All right.

Probably have to take a long time.

I know.

I just realized that.

All right.

Well, I think you're a kind stranger.

I think you are too.

You know what I like to do?

This is nothing, but in LA,

because we have a lot of parking meters.

Yeah.

If I see that one's out.

Oh, you slide your credit card in there?

Yeah.

Oh, that's really nice.

You know what I make a habit of doing is if I have to fart and I'm about to get on an elevator, I fart in the foyer before I get in the elevator as an act of

yeah.

My wife doesn't extend that kindness to strangers.

She'll toot right in the elevator because she knows they'll blame me.

Or they'll like it.

You love that.

That's a funny, you know, Rob's got my numbers sometimes.

I don't like it.

All right, well, I think that's it for kind strangers.

That was really lovely.

All right.

Love you.

I love you.

Do you want to sing a tune or something?

Want to have a theme song?

Oh.

Okay, great.

We don't have a

song for this new show, so here I go, go, go.

We're gonna ask some random questions, and with the help of our jerry's, we'll get some suggestions

on the fire rhyme dish.

On the fire rhyme dish, enjoy.

Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondry.com/slash survey.

Hi, I'm Monica Lewinsky.

Welcome to Reclaiming.

I would define reclaiming as to take back what was yours.

Something you possess is lost or stolen, and ultimately you triumph in finding it again.

Miley Cyrus, welcome to Reclaiming.

My 2013 is your 1998.

I lost everything during that time in my personal life because of the choices I was making professionally.

Chelsea Handler, welcome to Reclaiming.

I did have a teacher who instilled in me that I was going to do something special.

And she was like, you're going to have an impact.

Sophia Bush, welcome to Reclaiming.

You went all the way, you committed, and if it wasn't for you, you had the courage to tell the truth and get out.

And I had to say that to women in my life, and I had to learn how to say it in a mirror to myself.

This last decade for me has really been what I consider my own reclaiming.

My own journey, my own reclaiming story is in the bones of this show.

Please listen to Reclaiming on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.