September 18, 2018 • 37 mins
Jake's good friends tell their incredible story that took them from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Through it all their ability to focus on the positive is something we can all learn from.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, this is Jake going and this is Good Company.
Welcome to Good Company, a podcast where we talk about
everything under the sun, friends, good times, and company. Now
here's your host. What's up, my friends, Jake. I am
(00:24):
back with another episode of Good Company podcast. Uh with Jake,
that's me and I am coming at you guys from
what sounds like a very hollow room. It's my bar
in Kingston Springs, Tennessee. Um, this is the first podcast
that I have done from this establishment here in Kingston Springs.
And uh, I'm sitting on a very comfortable couch staring
(00:46):
across at a couple of great friends of mine that
happened to be a Kingston Springs residents as well. And uh,
this is gonna be a comfy conversation with two great
friends of mine. You guys, say hello to Ted and
Joscelyn Limmer. How are you guys doing? Doing well? Very good?
Thank you? I can tell see you gotta You're gonna
have to seriously loosen up. If if this is how
it's gonna be, Jocelyn already told me drinks. That doesn't help. Jocelyn,
(01:11):
why can't you drink because I'm pregnant little Charlie. She's
got a little Charlie, she's got a little girl in
the belly, and so she's not drinking. Although Ted, her
wonderful husband, does enjoy a beer from time to time,
and he decided, out of all the beers that I
have in this bar, Ted decided to go with a
honky Tonk Brew. Honky Tonk Brew. It's a local Nashville ale,
(01:34):
that's right. Which one is that? Is that? The sour
the sour cherry cherry Burliner? Right on? Well, I'm glad
you enjoy that. Ted, I'm actually drinking a um banana
bread Wells Banana bread Logger and myself right now. See,
this is actually another first for me on the podcast.
I've never really drank before while doing this podcast. Interesting. Then, yeah,
(01:58):
well this is my first beer, so I think I
think we're good on that. But uh, I'm really excited
to tell everybody that's listening today, um, the beautiful story
of my friends Ted and Jocelyn and Uh. As you know,
I've had so many different people on this show from
all different walks of life, and the main purpose each
time is to talk with people that I genuinely care
(02:19):
about that are friends of mine that have interesting stories
to tell. And I've never really had an agenda with
this whole show called good Company. I guess the real
agenda is to be with good people and and share stories.
And Ted and Jocelyn have one of the coolest stories
of anyone that I know. So I wanted to kind
of start first Ted and Johnson. You guys have been
married now for how long? Three years? Three years? I
(02:43):
met Ted and Jocelyn um out at the golf club
um where we are both members that we play some golf,
and Ted is known by a lot of us at
the golf course as tour pants Ted. Why why do
people call? Why do people call? Why do people call you?
Tour panted? I like to wear pants on the golf course.
It's very rare to see Ted in a pair of
(03:05):
shorts on the golf course. He's always wearing pants, so
he gets, you know, the uh, the moniker of tour
pants Ted, Ted, you are wearing a really nice pair
of pants tonight. Thank you appreciate that. Yeah, you can
tell already that Ted. Ted and Johnson are a little
reserved right now. They're they're trying to figure this out.
They're like they've been here to the bar before, but
(03:25):
they've never established this thing where I hand them a
microphone and tell them that they're gonna have to tell
their story. And speaking of that story, it's amazing. You
guys have been married for three years. You said three
and a half years. You met on Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee.
Is this a true Is this a true statement? True statement?
I love this story of Ted and Jocelyn together because
(03:47):
you guys, as I've told you a million times over,
they're just the perfect couple. You guys, You guys really
set an example for anyone, not not only myself but
anybody that we were eating uh Mexican food tonight and
you were referencing someone you were talking to and she
said to you, for just meeting you, she felt like
(04:07):
you guys were warm friends and had known each other
for a long time, and the love that you guys
have for each other was like infectious and contagious, and
uh it is that's the truth. And you were saying
that tonight, telling me as if I didn't already know that,
And that was honestly why I've always wanted to have
you guys on here and talk with you. Um Number
one just for the love you guys have for each
(04:28):
other and what it's like to be a couple that's
building a family, as you heard Jocelyn say that you
got a baby in the oven. But so we're back
to you guys meeting because this this is all we're
moving way fast down the road. You guys met on
Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee. How did this happen? To Ted? Alright, Well,
so I'll give you my version of the story, and
(04:49):
it'll be interesting to hear her version of the story. Um,
but I have a good friend named Oliver, and uh
he was assistant pro at the Golf Club of Tennessee,
and he invited me to go out downtown with him
one night. He had some friends in town from Florida
and it was a bachelorette party. I was single at
(05:10):
the time. He's like, hey, man, you want to go downtown.
I'm like, sure, single, Why would I not want to
go downtown with you and a bachette party? So so
I go downtown. We quickly, about thirty minutes into the evening,
realized that this group was like completely obnoxious and we
really didn't want to be there, and uh so we
ended up at honky Tonk Central. Been there, I've been there,
(05:32):
yeah right. And so about an hour into being a
honky Tonk Central, I had noticed this girl sitting at
the bar and I had just, i mean been basically
checking her out for like five minutes and just get
courage to like, yeah, what was weird? Was I was
(05:52):
your pickup line? Well? I was. I'm jumping ahead, but
this is such a great story. Yeah, yeah, slow down.
So I like swirl that I knew her from somewhere.
I was just convinced that I knew her from somewhere,
and I was just really smit with her from the
minute I saw her. And so about that time, my
buddy Oliver comes walking up to me, and for all
those guys listening, you can appreciate your buddy comes up
(06:13):
two single guys. You're like, all right, man, let's get
out of here. This is not fun. Let's leave. And
I was like, I don't know, man, there's this cute
girl at the bar. And he kind of looked at
me like, come on, man, let's get out of here.
And I'm like, no, man, I really need to go
to I really need to go talk to this girl.
And so I go walking across the bar, and as
a side notes, like that moment where you realize that
(06:35):
your life is like this, choose your own adventure book
where you know that's exactly what life is. Life is
what you make it. Ted there you go, So you're
getting that plug in there. I like that. So we
could have left like just as easily left. So I
walk across the bar and I walk up to her,
and I noticed that she had this white, uh like
rubber bracelet on like the Lance Armstrong Lived Strong bracelets,
(06:58):
and I had the same pacelet on, and I thought,
oh my gosh, she goes to my church because my
church had given out these bracelets. So all this is
leading up to I walk up to her and I said, Hey,
I'm really sorry to bother you, but you go to
my church which is by the way, which is by
the way, like such a I've never I don't have
any friends that have ever walked up Joe and said
(07:19):
do you go to my church? Not to mention at
Honky Talk Central like midnight. So I walked up your
and I said, so do you go to my church?
And she looks at me with one eye on a
TV screen and one eye looking at me like so annoyed,
like what, like, what what do you mean? And I said, oh,
I thought you might go to cross Point in my church.
(07:41):
And uh So meanwhile, now to realize that her mom
was sitting with her and they were on a girl's
trip together. I realized from you guys, you and your mom,
You guys are from Seattle, Washington, Seattle, Washington, and you
happen to be at Honky Talk Central at this point,
just sitting there with your mom watching the Washington Huskies play.
We were I was actually watching our rivals, the Washington
State Sugars, and I was there was two minutes left
(08:04):
and they were playing San Diego State, and the last
thing you wanted at this time rooting against them, and
I was they were about to lose. And I mean,
like the game, that's the game all good Husky fans
root against whoever the whoever their rival the Cougars are playing.
So so at this point you're dialed into this game.
Your mom sitting there next to you, guys, maybe crushing
a beer too and tequila tequila. And here comes this
(08:27):
guy and says, hey, I don't want to bother you,
but do you go to my church? When being from
the Washington you know, Pacific Northwest, like we go to
we gone to church, but like it's not as big
as a thing as it is in the South, and
it's clearly not a pickup line. Well we kind of
thought it was at first, because I mean, you are
in the South, and my mom was like, oh, you
(08:50):
just sit on down with us. Here. Of course, mom
meets a guy who says, uh, do you go to
my church? She's like, this is not like this guy. Yeah.
So then just kind of the it was weird. I mean,
they're not weird, but like the rest was history. We
sat there and hung out and talked and um, sounds cheesy,
but we were like literally holding hands that night walking
(09:12):
down Broadway. And what's awesome is if my buddy Oliver
was here right now, my buddy Oliver later that night,
it's like I'm wing man in it with her mom. Man,
Like I'm standing up. This is the greatest story. I
love this, not only okay. So that's what's beautiful about
y'all is it's not just your story that I know
of you. It's everything that that you could explain to
(09:33):
someone from the story of how you guys met to
the story of where you guys are now and um,
and so you guys meet y'all. It wasn't like I guess,
you go back to Washington. You guys kind of date
long distance for a little bit. Yeah, for about ten months,
and then finally after ten months, you just knew this
is the girl that it's supposed to be at your church,
(09:56):
right we um yeah, dat a long distance, lots of
trips back and forth, um um. Thankful that she made
the leap to um come to Nashville. And so I drove,
I flew to Nashville and we rented a big Penske
truck Washington, Washington, excuse me, rented a Pinsky truck and
(10:18):
with a trailer and pulled her truck behind Aske truck
from Washington State back to Nashville, which to this day
is the greatest trip we've had together. That is so cool.
So Johnson, you left everything back in Washington, your mom,
who you're super close to, your your brother, and uh,
(10:39):
it's it's unbelievable you just after ten months. I mean,
I guess not only did Ted know that you were
supposed to be the one for him, but you probably
felt the same way. Yes, definitely wouldn't have made the
mood of move if they didn't think that, because and
that's what I love about you guys. And I've always
told this about y'all, was like, y'all are not only
just two cool, perfect people for each other, and it's
(11:00):
rare to see two people like that. But Jocelyn is
not like an easy person to win over, you know,
you know what I mean, Like I'm still working on it. Yeah,
Like that's what I've always loved about Johnson is. And
I've said this to you about like you're just tenacity
and like and and Johnson will come out on the
golf course when Ted and I are playing golf, and
she she wants to play with us, so we're I mean,
(11:22):
and it's pretty rare. And it's it's not this has
nothing to do against females because I have a little
girl and like I wanted to play golf whatever, but
like you know, us guys who got to the golfers
are pretty rare. Like I go, I'm going out there
to play with someone and his wife, right, But I
love playing golf with you guys. And I just love
the way that you're so competitive, whether it was that
night at the game, or that night at the bar
where you where you where Ted walked dried up to
(11:44):
you and you were so focused, I mean on a game.
It's just so My point is is that you it's
pretty good catch on your part there, Ted, for for
a girl that's uh got her standard set pretty high.
That says a lot about yourself. Are ye? So you
moved to Nashville all at this time and I kind
of I mentioned that I met Ted of the golf course,
(12:04):
but ironically enough, at the time, you guys are like
four houses down from where I lived, and where we
lived is really kind of off the beaten path for
two two people that are getting married in their early
thirties and um living out in the middle of the country.
And I happened to because I don't do the nine
to five UH have to drive to work every day.
(12:25):
It wasn't such a big deal for me to live
out there because I'm on home that often. What was
funny was four houses down was like a conversation on
the driving range one day where You're like, so, what
road do you live on? And I said Forest Driving
You're like, wait, I live on Forest Drive. So four
houses down out where you live is maybe you know,
you know, a half a mile from each other, but
but yeah, we were neighbors and we didn't even realize it.
(12:48):
Yeah that's crazy. So you guys get married. And the
reason I was telling that story is is because just
moving Jocelyn from Washington to the middle of Kingston Springs, Tennessee,
is something that I would think two wasn't the easiest deal.
But you being an outdoorsy kind of girl and you
guys having a passion for kind of the whole, Yeah,
it was actually kind of easy because I knew how
(13:09):
important the mountains and rural kind of a rural lifestyle
was and being outdoors so um really um, aside from
proximity to the golf course right to play, it was
really by design. I mean we we bought our property
and built our house for the reason that I wanted
to be able to give her something as close to
(13:30):
the Pacific Northwest as possible. And I'll never forget one
day being on Brush Greek Road and she turns to
me and she goes, oh my gosh, babe, I feel
like I'm I feel like I'm at my spot, which
was her place, and and I was that just totally
completed the moment for me, and I thought, oh my gosh,
this is the best decision I've ever made. Um So
that's a big part of why we live out here
is for that reason, and you guys love it. We
(13:53):
have one stoplight in our town and uh we have
two restaurants, a met Sekon restaurant which we ate at
tonight and a really good uh pizza place I highly
recommended shoutout sky king Pizza and Kingston Springs, Tennessee. But
um so, throughout my time of getting to know you guys,
and this story obviously as you you've heard even come
(14:16):
from Ted's mouth, like the love you guys have for
each other, it's really special and it's cool as your
friend to see that because I'm inspired by that and
I think other people are as well. And so, um
where this story heads is. I Uh, I kept telling
you guys all the time. I always told Ted on
the golfers, like when you got how many times that
I did? I ask you guys, seriously, when are you
guys are gonna have kids? Because y'all are gonna be
(14:37):
the great? Because at the time I'd already had pearls. So, um,
I just knew that y'all needed a kid, a child
in your life, and um, you're like, oh, I don't know.
And you guys are so fun when it comes to
just picking up and leaving and as going on your
hiking trips and just doing stuff together that I could
see why probably you're waiting to make it happen. So
(14:58):
long story short, We're eating pizza at sky King Pizza, uh,
the other restaurant in town, and you tell me how long?
How long has this been? Uh, I'm twenty three weeks,
so I don't yeh couple of months? Three months? Yeah? One?
(15:18):
And I was we were we were at the point
where we were pregnant, but you're not really supposed to
say anything yet. Oh wait a second, and you could.
You just busted out of the show and diner and
it's so excited. Any other couples can appreciate this, but
I like put her on the spot. I'm like, so
can I tell him? And Jake's like, parents yet, Yeah,
we haven't even told our parents yet, and she's like, well,
(15:39):
I guess you can now, and uh, yes, I told
Jake that we were pregnant, and it was pretty I
was so excited I started freaking out I mean, it
was just it was a cool night. That was a
really cool night. I'll never forget you guys telling me that,
And I just remember being elated and excited for y'all,
for everything that's to come because you are I mean,
(16:00):
and this is before we knew you were having a
little girl and being a dad of a little girl
and being a friend of yours. Ted, I'm really excited
to see you with with a little girl. So the
reason obviously too, that I had you guys on the
show to talk to everyone is it's not just your
love for each other's it's this story. It's this journey,
I guess what you call it, Like this journey that
you guys are on, that you you and and so
(16:21):
you tell me you're pregnant, and then it was what
a week A week later, I got a text from
Taddy's like, hey man, you have time to talk and um,
and you filled me in with the news of yeah
that Um. A week after Josin we found out we
were pregnant. Um, we found out that she had been
(16:45):
diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, which is going from the
highest high ever finding out about a child too being
probably I mean, I can just saying it now. It's
hard to just write. It's really but I want you
guys to know this, Like it's you walking up today
(17:07):
at the Mexican restaurant. I looked at you and like
you would you walk by people I'm sure every day
that would never even know, right like you? You know,
you're so beautiful and you carry yourself in such a positive,
happy spirited way. And here you are, like with a
baby in your tummy, and as you just said, like
I said, and this is hard man like and I
hope for people out there listening that And that's why
I wanted Ted and Jocelyn on is it's sometimes talking
(17:29):
about things that aren't easy to talk about. UM is
amazing how not only how people you can also influence
other people and educate them as well. As you said, Ted,
But but just when I said that, I was like,
so you find out a week later that what? And
I could tell the minute I asked, like you just
kinda it takes you minute to even process it. But
but you're living with this every single day, right, And
(17:51):
it's just it's really, it's really it's interesting to see
how you guys, how you guys handle it. Number One
talking about it. But number two, how you did this day?
Like just walking up the two of you guys were like,
we ate Mexican food. We didn't really talk about it.
We didn't and you and if no one knew Johnston's
like this cute little blond haired, bubbly like bouncy, a
(18:13):
little like energizer bunny you are most of the time. Yes,
So you find out you have breast cancer and you're
twelve weeks pregnant. Yeah, I think I was, well, I
was eight, eight or nine when we found out for
more nine weeks pregnant and we found out so a
little bit more than a couple of months ago. Yeah,
(18:35):
and um, yeah, it was tough. It was really, um
kind of unimaginable really that you know, we've we found
out we were pregnant a couple of days before our
three year anniversary, which was like such a really cool
anniversary gift to realize that we were pregnant. And yeah,
that's right, and um, yeah, I mean there's just there's
(18:59):
so much to take away from this. And I told
Jake earlier, I was like, man, there's like so much
that I have to say and would want to share. Um,
for a woman that's going through this, or a husband
that's trying to support his wife. Like I mean, there's
just there's so so much to talk about. But yeah,
it was it was a lot, and it was a
lot to process, and it was a lot to try
to try to figure out. Um but um, I guess
(19:27):
just just for listeners, like, we're doing great, and I
say we because we're in this totally together and you're
four weeks through. We're four weeks uh treatments through and
into your chemotherapy. So you're so Jocelyn is pregnant and
she's doing chemotherapy at the same time. And as you
(19:47):
were saying, tonight at dinner, there was someone Dr Phil
The other day there was and yeah, he apparently said
that I'm a part of this kick ass cancer mom's
group on Facebook and you are our Dr Phillis hopefully
not because they're not happy with him, but um, he was.
He had this whole show about how you can't do
(20:09):
chemotherapy one and you're pregnant, and so there's a lot
of us in the group that proving him wrong, prove otherwise,
and lots of healthy little five year old babies in
that group that you know, are all good. And so
women in that group that have gone through what you're
going through that now have a five year old child
and they're all healthy. And and you know, we're four
(20:33):
we're four treatments through a total of sixteen treatments. UM.
For those that are worried about us and the pregnancy,
rest assured that UM lots of research and counsel on
the subject, but that at the start of your second trimester,
the chemotherapy is actually safe during pregnancy, which is such
a blessing that is the case because UM, as you know,
(20:56):
the chemotherapy is critical UM to the overall outcome. And UM,
so she's a warrior. I was telling a good friend
uh today this afternoon that just how strong she is
and how inspired I am by her every single day.
And UM, she's doing great and her health is great.
(21:16):
The doctors are astounded. The babies. Charlie, our little girl,
her name is Charlotte Ray And UM, I realized today
I've been calling her Charlie and no one even knows
her name is Charlotte. But uh, but Charlie is doing great,
and UM, we're we're so thankful. UM. So we we
have a lot to be thankful. For amongst what otherwise
(21:40):
feels feels from the outside like a super tough time,
I feel like we've grown so close together, um, and
I recognize that this is a chance, this is a
time where some couples could grow apart, and I'm so
thankful that we've grown together as a part of it. Well,
I can tell you as your friend, as I've told
you as this before, just watching you guys, as before
(22:00):
I knew you were even dealing with any of this,
you were inspiring people to me, to anyone that knows
you like y'all just have an inspirational kind of vibe
that you give off as far as how to how
to be in love with someone, how to treat them.
And then now you're going through all this and as
I mentioned, I mean you said, uh, you know, it's
(22:21):
not easy going through what you're going through, but you
guys make it seem that way from the outside. I
hope you know that as your friend, I mean watching
Jocelyn came to a taping of the Real Country Show
the other day for like three hours. You sat in
there during this taping. You guys came to my filming
of the Down to the Honkey Talk video to night
at Honkytalk Central. That's why that's one of the reasons
(22:41):
why we came where you guys met and Um, it's
really just it's it's I hope you all know it.
Not only with that said, with the fact that you're
on here with microphones up to your face, and I
don't think I really realized it until you know, when
I asked you, Ted, I said, you, guys, think you'd
want to share your story? You for people out there
to that that you feel like perhaps would want to
(23:03):
know what you're going through. And because I genuinely believe that,
I genuinely believe that people want to know and want
to if they're going through it or how you're dealing
with it. And but at the same time too, it's
strong of you to to say yes, to open yourself
up to the world out there that we live in
and educate them with what you're going through. So how
do you feel, Jocelyn, Well, I'm just I'm like a
(23:27):
very positive person in general, so just staying positive and
not like when my mind starts to go negative. I'm
just like, Okay, I switched gears and think positively. Um,
and Ted has been fabulous to stay positive with me
because I know it's not easy, but like surrounding ourselves
with friends and family, and we have our sweet dog
(23:49):
and Charlie common which is very helpful. We have a
catney Willie Nelson too, so you can who sleeps with
me every night. I have two goats named Brooks and Dunn.
So do you have a cat named Willie Nelson. I've
got a dog named Merle. I got two goats sat
Brooks and John. But you justin talked about staying positive
(24:10):
and UM. I told Jake earlier. I was like, man,
I have so much to say. I'm like trying to
organize my thoughts and He's like, come on, man, just
making a conversation. But and it's true and it does
feel just right. But you know, for anyone out there
that's going through something like this or UM, I just can't.
I can't stress enough the importance to focus on what
(24:31):
is positive? What, what are you thankful for? What are
you grateful and for? In that situation, one of the
things we really latched on too early on was that
we caught it early, which we did. UM. She has
a stage two UM. The lymph node was negative. And
for those that you know what that means. That's a
really good thing. That means it had not spread. Um
(24:52):
and uh. But we celebrated this idea that if we
had not been pregnant, we never would have found out
that she had this because we found this out on
our on our first trip to our doctor when we
found out she was pregnant. And that now all of
a sudden, Charlie wears this permanent badge of honor that
she saved her mom's life. And and for literally for
(25:14):
a month and a half, that was like this like
foundation of positivity for us was that Charlie saved her life.
We caught this thing early. And so whatever it is
that you're latching onto, it's critically important that you focus
on what is that's positive in the situation and not
focusing on what you can't control and what's negative. And
(25:36):
I think that I think that's so true to life, man, seriously,
And maybe that's why you guys inspire me in a way,
Like just you sitting there saying that is for what
you're going through. True. But I think no matter what
you're going through in life, focusing on that positive side
of things will always get you through, as opposed to
(25:57):
the negative. And I was I think you were going
to say something to John. I was just going to say, like,
you can focus on there's like all the percentages. It's
like there's a ten percent chance it can come back,
there's a five percent chance. You know, so there's like
all those numbers, and you tended like go to those,
but it's like, okay, well, Ted and I were talking
in the ginning, Well, hello, that's chance. It's not like
(26:20):
that's a huge number. So focus on those numbers, the
positive numbers, instead of the negative ones, because that's what
that's what I'll get you through. Yeah, And and and
in focusing on the idea, and this has just been
so profound in both of our lives, is just realizing
that really not in control. So you can latch onto
the tim per cent chance, but then what are you
(26:40):
gonna do with that? There's nothing, nothing that you can
do from there. Um, what if you think of think
about it this way too, What if someone gave you
odds or the chances and percentages that we're talking about numbers?
What is like the way they give you in them
about cancer? Right? Like, what if someone said give you, hey,
here's the percentage head of you gonna go out on
(27:02):
Broadway tonight with your buddy and meet a woman that
you're going to live the rest of your life with
and have a child, and she's gonna go through what
you're going through now. And someone told you that was
gonna happen you, that you that you would right. So
forget the percentages, man, forget the just live life like
take the take the chance to appreciate it and and
(27:24):
and and make the most of it. And I think
that's what I know. It's hard to talk about this
and even the word cancer, but like I hope you
guys know that you're you're so special. You're special people.
I'm lucky to be your friend and I'm and I
feel fortunate that you all have included me in your
lives what you have. But uh for you to take
the time and talk about this tonight and and share
(27:48):
your story with so many people that you don't know,
that don't know you. But I feel I find can
still find inspiration from you. I mean, I admire you
guys a lot, appreciate that what um is there anything
that you know? Y'all? You said it very well to it,
but maybe you Jocelyn, that you wanted to share with
any woman out there that's going through what you're going
(28:10):
through or might just be pregnant and and and having
scared thoughts about you know, I don't know, you're just
you're a special woman. I'd like to hear your thoughts
before we get out of here. Um, I definitely just
say that, like I don't know, like I chalked my
little bump up to be pregnancy because I mean I've
never been pregnant before, so I had no idea. But
(28:32):
I think definitely like if there's something different, like go
get it checked out. Um there's I've seen so many
younger girls now that have been diagnosed like in their
early twenties, which is crazy to me because they don't
do like mamograms until you're forty or something. So it's
just it blows my mind. And I kind of want
(28:54):
to get that awareness out there that they're younger and
younger women and right do you hear that a lot too?
Doctors say like if your your body is truthful to you,
like if your body is telling you something or you
notice something that's not not right, didn't get it checked out, Like,
don't don't just sit around and wait, NA say T yeah,
(29:15):
Well I was just gonna say, um So, I just
wanted to share just one last one nugget and we'll
get out of here. But that, UM, and I think
it's important to kind of pull this thing full circle.
Is that, UM, And I told you this, UM a while,
a couple of weeks ago when we were together. That
it's made me appreciate to that, like, everybody has stuff
(29:37):
going on in their life, like we we spent several
months in our bubble right after the diagnosis trying to comprehend,
making decisions around UH surgeries and decisions related to treatment,
and we were surrounded by all these people that knew
exactly what was going on in our life. You had
all the attention, all the sympathy. Everything that like was
(29:59):
comforting in that moment. And I made this decision to
go on a trip to Chicago for a day trip.
And Jocelyn had encouraged me to go and thought, hey,
it'll be really good for you to get out, and
I had not. I had not worked almost in a
month at this point, and um, so I made this
decision I was going to go to Chicago. And I
get to the Nashville airport and I walked into the airport,
(30:22):
and in that moment, I realized there was not one
single person around me. They had any idea what was
going on in my life. Nothing, nothing. Everybody was in
their own world and so and so should they be.
You know, no one knew what was going on. And
I felt so uncomfortable in that moment, and I was
having this self pity that no one knew what I
was going through and that was broken and that I
(30:43):
needed this support. And so I found myself in wine
buying a water in a magazine at one of the stores,
and there was this woman in front of me and
she was she was trying to pay, and she was
fumbling for some loose change, and I was having this
total selfish moment where I thought, oh, man, come on, lady,
like that she was taking a while to pay, and
like house timing, how many times we roll in that
(31:04):
selfish moment, we're in a hurry. And then I stopped
myself and it was such a profound moment that has
carried with me is that I realized, here, no one
knows what's going on in my life, and I'm broken,
But I don't know what's going on in her life.
Maybe she's fumbling for change because she's her son got
diagnosed or something, or maybe she's having challenges with her husband,
or maybe she lost a loved one or who knows,
(31:26):
and and it just like totally sobered me in the moment,
and thought, we need to be nicer to people, like
we need to be respectful to one another, and that
if our culture and our society and our country and
our world could be a little bit more respectful and
a little bit more understanding that other people have stuff
going on. And it was such a huge takeaway from me,
and his literally like changed in my life since that
(31:49):
day and just tried to make me more aware of
other people that are around me. So my point is
is that amongst what feels like an other word otherwise
really hard time, there's so many little little nuggets that
have come from it. And our relationship as a married
couple has come closer together as a result. And yes,
(32:09):
we're fighting something hard, but we're more self aware of
our surroundings and our friends and our family and and
so again it goes back to like focusing on all
these positive things that you can identify amongst a really
hard time. Yeah, that's really well said. I mean I
was just sitting here and all of listening and you're talking.
You're right, man. I told you when we started talking
(32:31):
about a little bit about that a few weeks back.
How I felt when I came home from Las Vegas
on October two. It was it was really weird being
there October one last year when obviously that tragic event
happened and tons of people lost their lives. And I
(32:51):
got home that was a Sunday night, October one when
that happened, and I got home on Monday, and that
night was Erica's birthday, my girlfriend and um. I was
driving down towards where we were having our party to
surprise her, and the same sort of thing. I remember
looking over at Buffalo Wild Wings and all these people
(33:12):
are in the parking lot with their jerseys on, walking
inside because it was Monday night. Football is like are
you ready for alsome football? And there's this part of
me driving on the road that thought to myself, like,
how can these people know that last night in Las Vegas?
Like they didn't know that I was going through that,
like that I was there, and as you said, nor
should they, Like why why should they know? But there
(33:33):
was a huge part of me that just felt like,
how can these people, why can Monday night football not
just happen tonight? Can they not just take a break
and people just for a moment, respect the fact that
this happened. But at the end of the day, as
you said it, life goes on, Like in life happens,
and you have to make the most of it while
you're here, and and and and be kind to people
(33:55):
and do the right thing and see the bright side
of the day. And um, the way you said that
said it was so well said and so sums up
exactly what this whole podcast I hope has done for
people this first season that I've done. And I think
you guys are a great way for me to to
sum it up this first season before I go into
(34:15):
the second season. I told you that earlier and how
you said it. I hope everyone listening really as almost
as speechless as I am the way you said that,
because it's really profound. Not only I mean I wish
you had a bigger platform than just me and the
Good Company to say what you just said. I hope
people take what you said and spread it through their
lives and their friends and families, just um, because it's
(34:40):
not easy sometimes to put into words what we should
do as a as a world, as a country, um,
in order to live life in a more positive manner.
And uh, I try to do it each every other
week on this this podcast. And you just did it
in about a minute and a half long little dissertation
and it was just dude, it's really well set. And
(35:02):
again I appreciate it's weird. I'm sure to sit here
with your buddy as it is for me to stay
here with you guys, and we're having a chat with
Mike's in our face. But it really felt real and
honest to me. And I'm glad you guys did it.
And I hope everyone out there kind of take something
away from this and has had the pleasure of meeting
Ted and Jocelyn tonight. And as you go through this journey, man,
(35:23):
we're going to continue to. Uh. I know everyone out
there listening, it's gonna be sending prayers for you guys,
and I I already do, but I'm gonna continue to.
And I'm really excited for y'all. I'm excited to meet Charlie.
This the Badge of Honor where for saving saving your life? Jocelyn. Yeah,
she sure did so. When when's the due date? January
(35:47):
January five, Wintertime Baby, Winter Time by my mom was
January one. She was a new New Year's baby, so
you never know. You could be early, could be late.
She came at midnight twelve oh one on so ever,
and I love your mom, so shout out Mitzio and
(36:11):
from from Joscelyn Limmer. She just shouted out. She was
a mom reference right there. This has been definitely I mean, honestly,
if you're listening, as you know, this has probably gone
on a little longer than what usual, but um, and
it seemed to be a little bit more somber than
than usual podcast. But this is probably the most special
one that I've ever been a part of to talk
(36:31):
to you all and hear your story and appreciate you
being so honest and open and vulnerable for everybody listening.
And um, we appreciate you guys, y'all. I'll say bye
to Ted and Jocelyn. Wish them uh incredible luck on
their journey together. I know that you guys will be
great and um, you inspired me as I said, so
you are good company Ted and Jocelyn, which is a perfect,
(36:54):
perfect people for this for this show. I love you guys,
thanks for listening, and um look forward to seeing y'all
in a couple of weeks when I come back with
Season two with a lot of new topics and fun
things to talk about. It's been fun. Whoa play Yeah,
Hey, this is Jake going and this is Good Company.
Welcome to Good Company, a podcast where we talk about
everything under the sun, friends, good times, and company. Now
here's your host. What's up, my friends, Jake. I am
(00:24):
back with another episode of Good Company podcast. Uh with Jake,
that's me and I am coming at you guys from
what sounds like a very hollow room. It's my bar
in Kingston Springs, Tennessee. Um, this is the first podcast
that I have done from this establishment here in Kingston Springs.
And uh, I'm sitting on a very comfortable couch staring
(00:46):
across at a couple of great friends of mine that
happened to be a Kingston Springs residents as well. And uh,
this is gonna be a comfy conversation with two great
friends of mine. You guys, say hello to Ted and
Joscelyn Limmer. How are you guys doing? Doing well? Very good?
Thank you? I can tell see you gotta You're gonna
have to seriously loosen up. If if this is how
it's gonna be, Jocelyn already told me drinks. That doesn't help. Jocelyn,
(01:11):
why can't you drink because I'm pregnant little Charlie. She's
got a little Charlie, she's got a little girl in
the belly, and so she's not drinking. Although Ted, her
wonderful husband, does enjoy a beer from time to time,
and he decided, out of all the beers that I
have in this bar, Ted decided to go with a
honky Tonk Brew. Honky Tonk Brew. It's a local Nashville ale,
(01:34):
that's right. Which one is that? Is that? The sour
the sour cherry cherry Burliner? Right on? Well, I'm glad
you enjoy that. Ted, I'm actually drinking a um banana
bread Wells Banana bread Logger and myself right now. See,
this is actually another first for me on the podcast.
I've never really drank before while doing this podcast. Interesting. Then, yeah,
(01:58):
well this is my first beer, so I think I
think we're good on that. But uh, I'm really excited
to tell everybody that's listening today, um, the beautiful story
of my friends Ted and Jocelyn and Uh. As you know,
I've had so many different people on this show from
all different walks of life, and the main purpose each
time is to talk with people that I genuinely care
(02:19):
about that are friends of mine that have interesting stories
to tell. And I've never really had an agenda with
this whole show called good Company. I guess the real
agenda is to be with good people and and share stories.
And Ted and Jocelyn have one of the coolest stories
of anyone that I know. So I wanted to kind
of start first Ted and Johnson. You guys have been
married now for how long? Three years? Three years? I
(02:43):
met Ted and Jocelyn um out at the golf club
um where we are both members that we play some golf,
and Ted is known by a lot of us at
the golf course as tour pants Ted. Why why do
people call? Why do people call? Why do people call you?
Tour panted? I like to wear pants on the golf course.
It's very rare to see Ted in a pair of
(03:05):
shorts on the golf course. He's always wearing pants, so
he gets, you know, the uh, the moniker of tour
pants Ted, Ted, you are wearing a really nice pair
of pants tonight. Thank you appreciate that. Yeah, you can
tell already that Ted. Ted and Johnson are a little
reserved right now. They're they're trying to figure this out.
They're like they've been here to the bar before, but
(03:25):
they've never established this thing where I hand them a
microphone and tell them that they're gonna have to tell
their story. And speaking of that story, it's amazing. You
guys have been married for three years. You said three
and a half years. You met on Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee.
Is this a true Is this a true statement? True statement?
I love this story of Ted and Jocelyn together because
(03:47):
you guys, as I've told you a million times over,
they're just the perfect couple. You guys, You guys really
set an example for anyone, not not only myself but
anybody that we were eating uh Mexican food tonight and
you were referencing someone you were talking to and she
said to you, for just meeting you, she felt like
(04:07):
you guys were warm friends and had known each other
for a long time, and the love that you guys
have for each other was like infectious and contagious, and
uh it is that's the truth. And you were saying
that tonight, telling me as if I didn't already know that,
And that was honestly why I've always wanted to have
you guys on here and talk with you. Um Number
one just for the love you guys have for each
(04:28):
other and what it's like to be a couple that's
building a family, as you heard Jocelyn say that you
got a baby in the oven. But so we're back
to you guys meeting because this this is all we're
moving way fast down the road. You guys met on
Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee. How did this happen? To Ted? Alright, Well,
so I'll give you my version of the story, and
(04:49):
it'll be interesting to hear her version of the story. Um,
but I have a good friend named Oliver, and uh
he was assistant pro at the Golf Club of Tennessee,
and he invited me to go out downtown with him
one night. He had some friends in town from Florida
and it was a bachelorette party. I was single at
(05:10):
the time. He's like, hey, man, you want to go downtown.
I'm like, sure, single, Why would I not want to
go downtown with you and a bachette party? So so
I go downtown. We quickly, about thirty minutes into the evening,
realized that this group was like completely obnoxious and we
really didn't want to be there, and uh so we
ended up at honky Tonk Central. Been there, I've been there,
(05:32):
yeah right. And so about an hour into being a
honky Tonk Central, I had noticed this girl sitting at
the bar and I had just, i mean been basically
checking her out for like five minutes and just get
courage to like, yeah, what was weird? Was I was
(05:52):
your pickup line? Well? I was. I'm jumping ahead, but
this is such a great story. Yeah, yeah, slow down.
So I like swirl that I knew her from somewhere.
I was just convinced that I knew her from somewhere,
and I was just really smit with her from the
minute I saw her. And so about that time, my
buddy Oliver comes walking up to me, and for all
those guys listening, you can appreciate your buddy comes up
(06:13):
two single guys. You're like, all right, man, let's get
out of here. This is not fun. Let's leave. And
I was like, I don't know, man, there's this cute
girl at the bar. And he kind of looked at
me like, come on, man, let's get out of here.
And I'm like, no, man, I really need to go
to I really need to go talk to this girl.
And so I go walking across the bar, and as
a side notes, like that moment where you realize that
(06:35):
your life is like this, choose your own adventure book
where you know that's exactly what life is. Life is
what you make it. Ted there you go, So you're
getting that plug in there. I like that. So we
could have left like just as easily left. So I
walk across the bar and I walk up to her,
and I noticed that she had this white, uh like
rubber bracelet on like the Lance Armstrong Lived Strong bracelets,
(06:58):
and I had the same pacelet on, and I thought,
oh my gosh, she goes to my church because my
church had given out these bracelets. So all this is
leading up to I walk up to her and I said, Hey,
I'm really sorry to bother you, but you go to
my church which is by the way, which is by
the way, like such a I've never I don't have
any friends that have ever walked up Joe and said
(07:19):
do you go to my church? Not to mention at
Honky Talk Central like midnight. So I walked up your
and I said, so do you go to my church?
And she looks at me with one eye on a
TV screen and one eye looking at me like so annoyed,
like what, like, what what do you mean? And I said, oh,
I thought you might go to cross Point in my church.
(07:41):
And uh So meanwhile, now to realize that her mom
was sitting with her and they were on a girl's
trip together. I realized from you guys, you and your mom,
You guys are from Seattle, Washington, Seattle, Washington, and you
happen to be at Honky Talk Central at this point,
just sitting there with your mom watching the Washington Huskies play.
We were I was actually watching our rivals, the Washington
State Sugars, and I was there was two minutes left
(08:04):
and they were playing San Diego State, and the last
thing you wanted at this time rooting against them, and
I was they were about to lose. And I mean,
like the game, that's the game all good Husky fans
root against whoever the whoever their rival the Cougars are playing.
So so at this point you're dialed into this game.
Your mom sitting there next to you, guys, maybe crushing
a beer too and tequila tequila. And here comes this
(08:27):
guy and says, hey, I don't want to bother you,
but do you go to my church? When being from
the Washington you know, Pacific Northwest, like we go to
we gone to church, but like it's not as big
as a thing as it is in the South, and
it's clearly not a pickup line. Well we kind of
thought it was at first, because I mean, you are
in the South, and my mom was like, oh, you
(08:50):
just sit on down with us. Here. Of course, mom
meets a guy who says, uh, do you go to
my church? She's like, this is not like this guy. Yeah.
So then just kind of the it was weird. I mean,
they're not weird, but like the rest was history. We
sat there and hung out and talked and um, sounds cheesy,
but we were like literally holding hands that night walking
(09:12):
down Broadway. And what's awesome is if my buddy Oliver
was here right now, my buddy Oliver later that night,
it's like I'm wing man in it with her mom. Man,
Like I'm standing up. This is the greatest story. I
love this, not only okay. So that's what's beautiful about
y'all is it's not just your story that I know
of you. It's everything that that you could explain to
(09:33):
someone from the story of how you guys met to
the story of where you guys are now and um,
and so you guys meet y'all. It wasn't like I guess,
you go back to Washington. You guys kind of date
long distance for a little bit. Yeah, for about ten months,
and then finally after ten months, you just knew this
is the girl that it's supposed to be at your church,
(09:56):
right we um yeah, dat a long distance, lots of
trips back and forth, um um. Thankful that she made
the leap to um come to Nashville. And so I drove,
I flew to Nashville and we rented a big Penske
truck Washington, Washington, excuse me, rented a Pinsky truck and
(10:18):
with a trailer and pulled her truck behind Aske truck
from Washington State back to Nashville, which to this day
is the greatest trip we've had together. That is so cool.
So Johnson, you left everything back in Washington, your mom,
who you're super close to, your your brother, and uh,
(10:39):
it's it's unbelievable you just after ten months. I mean,
I guess not only did Ted know that you were
supposed to be the one for him, but you probably
felt the same way. Yes, definitely wouldn't have made the
mood of move if they didn't think that, because and
that's what I love about you guys. And I've always
told this about y'all, was like, y'all are not only
just two cool, perfect people for each other, and it's
(11:00):
rare to see two people like that. But Jocelyn is
not like an easy person to win over, you know,
you know what I mean, Like I'm still working on it. Yeah,
Like that's what I've always loved about Johnson is. And
I've said this to you about like you're just tenacity
and like and and Johnson will come out on the
golf course when Ted and I are playing golf, and
she she wants to play with us, so we're I mean,
(11:22):
and it's pretty rare. And it's it's not this has
nothing to do against females because I have a little
girl and like I wanted to play golf whatever, but
like you know, us guys who got to the golfers
are pretty rare. Like I go, I'm going out there
to play with someone and his wife, right, But I
love playing golf with you guys. And I just love
the way that you're so competitive, whether it was that
night at the game, or that night at the bar
where you where you where Ted walked dried up to
(11:44):
you and you were so focused, I mean on a game.
It's just so My point is is that you it's
pretty good catch on your part there, Ted, for for
a girl that's uh got her standard set pretty high.
That says a lot about yourself. Are ye? So you
moved to Nashville all at this time and I kind
of I mentioned that I met Ted of the golf course,
(12:04):
but ironically enough, at the time, you guys are like
four houses down from where I lived, and where we
lived is really kind of off the beaten path for
two two people that are getting married in their early
thirties and um living out in the middle of the country.
And I happened to because I don't do the nine
to five UH have to drive to work every day.
(12:25):
It wasn't such a big deal for me to live
out there because I'm on home that often. What was
funny was four houses down was like a conversation on
the driving range one day where You're like, so, what
road do you live on? And I said Forest Driving
You're like, wait, I live on Forest Drive. So four
houses down out where you live is maybe you know,
you know, a half a mile from each other, but
but yeah, we were neighbors and we didn't even realize it.
(12:48):
Yeah that's crazy. So you guys get married. And the
reason I was telling that story is is because just
moving Jocelyn from Washington to the middle of Kingston Springs, Tennessee,
is something that I would think two wasn't the easiest deal.
But you being an outdoorsy kind of girl and you
guys having a passion for kind of the whole, Yeah,
it was actually kind of easy because I knew how
(13:09):
important the mountains and rural kind of a rural lifestyle
was and being outdoors so um really um, aside from
proximity to the golf course right to play, it was
really by design. I mean we we bought our property
and built our house for the reason that I wanted
to be able to give her something as close to
(13:30):
the Pacific Northwest as possible. And I'll never forget one
day being on Brush Greek Road and she turns to
me and she goes, oh my gosh, babe, I feel
like I'm I feel like I'm at my spot, which
was her place, and and I was that just totally
completed the moment for me, and I thought, oh my gosh,
this is the best decision I've ever made. Um So
that's a big part of why we live out here
is for that reason, and you guys love it. We
(13:53):
have one stoplight in our town and uh we have
two restaurants, a met Sekon restaurant which we ate at
tonight and a really good uh pizza place I highly
recommended shoutout sky king Pizza and Kingston Springs, Tennessee. But
um so, throughout my time of getting to know you guys,
and this story obviously as you you've heard even come
(14:16):
from Ted's mouth, like the love you guys have for
each other, it's really special and it's cool as your
friend to see that because I'm inspired by that and
I think other people are as well. And so, um
where this story heads is. I Uh, I kept telling
you guys all the time. I always told Ted on
the golfers, like when you got how many times that
I did? I ask you guys, seriously, when are you
guys are gonna have kids? Because y'all are gonna be
(14:37):
the great? Because at the time I'd already had pearls. So, um,
I just knew that y'all needed a kid, a child
in your life, and um, you're like, oh, I don't know.
And you guys are so fun when it comes to
just picking up and leaving and as going on your
hiking trips and just doing stuff together that I could
see why probably you're waiting to make it happen. So
(14:58):
long story short, We're eating pizza at sky King Pizza, uh,
the other restaurant in town, and you tell me how long?
How long has this been? Uh, I'm twenty three weeks,
so I don't yeh couple of months? Three months? Yeah? One?
(15:18):
And I was we were we were at the point
where we were pregnant, but you're not really supposed to
say anything yet. Oh wait a second, and you could.
You just busted out of the show and diner and
it's so excited. Any other couples can appreciate this, but
I like put her on the spot. I'm like, so
can I tell him? And Jake's like, parents yet, Yeah,
we haven't even told our parents yet, and she's like, well,
(15:39):
I guess you can now, and uh, yes, I told
Jake that we were pregnant, and it was pretty I
was so excited I started freaking out I mean, it
was just it was a cool night. That was a
really cool night. I'll never forget you guys telling me that,
And I just remember being elated and excited for y'all,
for everything that's to come because you are I mean,
(16:00):
and this is before we knew you were having a
little girl and being a dad of a little girl
and being a friend of yours. Ted, I'm really excited
to see you with with a little girl. So the
reason obviously too, that I had you guys on the
show to talk to everyone is it's not just your
love for each other's it's this story. It's this journey,
I guess what you call it, Like this journey that
you guys are on, that you you and and so
(16:21):
you tell me you're pregnant, and then it was what
a week A week later, I got a text from
Taddy's like, hey man, you have time to talk and um,
and you filled me in with the news of yeah
that Um. A week after Josin we found out we
were pregnant. Um, we found out that she had been
(16:45):
diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, which is going from the
highest high ever finding out about a child too being
probably I mean, I can just saying it now. It's
hard to just write. It's really but I want you
guys to know this, Like it's you walking up today
(17:07):
at the Mexican restaurant. I looked at you and like
you would you walk by people I'm sure every day
that would never even know, right like you? You know,
you're so beautiful and you carry yourself in such a positive,
happy spirited way. And here you are, like with a
baby in your tummy, and as you just said, like
I said, and this is hard man like and I
hope for people out there listening that And that's why
I wanted Ted and Jocelyn on is it's sometimes talking
(17:29):
about things that aren't easy to talk about. UM is
amazing how not only how people you can also influence
other people and educate them as well. As you said, Ted,
But but just when I said that, I was like,
so you find out a week later that what? And
I could tell the minute I asked, like you just
kinda it takes you minute to even process it. But
but you're living with this every single day, right, And
(17:51):
it's just it's really, it's really it's interesting to see
how you guys, how you guys handle it. Number One
talking about it. But number two, how you did this day?
Like just walking up the two of you guys were like,
we ate Mexican food. We didn't really talk about it.
We didn't and you and if no one knew Johnston's
like this cute little blond haired, bubbly like bouncy, a
(18:13):
little like energizer bunny you are most of the time. Yes,
So you find out you have breast cancer and you're
twelve weeks pregnant. Yeah, I think I was, well, I
was eight, eight or nine when we found out for
more nine weeks pregnant and we found out so a
little bit more than a couple of months ago. Yeah,
(18:35):
and um, yeah, it was tough. It was really, um
kind of unimaginable really that you know, we've we found
out we were pregnant a couple of days before our
three year anniversary, which was like such a really cool
anniversary gift to realize that we were pregnant. And yeah,
that's right, and um, yeah, I mean there's just there's
(18:59):
so much to take away from this. And I told
Jake earlier, I was like, man, there's like so much
that I have to say and would want to share. Um,
for a woman that's going through this, or a husband
that's trying to support his wife. Like I mean, there's
just there's so so much to talk about. But yeah,
it was it was a lot, and it was a
lot to process, and it was a lot to try
to try to figure out. Um but um, I guess
(19:27):
just just for listeners, like, we're doing great, and I
say we because we're in this totally together and you're
four weeks through. We're four weeks uh treatments through and
into your chemotherapy. So you're so Jocelyn is pregnant and
she's doing chemotherapy at the same time. And as you
(19:47):
were saying, tonight at dinner, there was someone Dr Phil
The other day there was and yeah, he apparently said
that I'm a part of this kick ass cancer mom's
group on Facebook and you are our Dr Phillis hopefully
not because they're not happy with him, but um, he was.
He had this whole show about how you can't do
(20:09):
chemotherapy one and you're pregnant, and so there's a lot
of us in the group that proving him wrong, prove otherwise,
and lots of healthy little five year old babies in
that group that you know, are all good. And so
women in that group that have gone through what you're
going through that now have a five year old child
and they're all healthy. And and you know, we're four
(20:33):
we're four treatments through a total of sixteen treatments. UM.
For those that are worried about us and the pregnancy,
rest assured that UM lots of research and counsel on
the subject, but that at the start of your second trimester,
the chemotherapy is actually safe during pregnancy, which is such
a blessing that is the case because UM, as you know,
(20:56):
the chemotherapy is critical UM to the overall outcome. And UM,
so she's a warrior. I was telling a good friend
uh today this afternoon that just how strong she is
and how inspired I am by her every single day.
And UM, she's doing great and her health is great.
(21:16):
The doctors are astounded. The babies. Charlie, our little girl,
her name is Charlotte Ray And UM, I realized today
I've been calling her Charlie and no one even knows
her name is Charlotte. But uh, but Charlie is doing great,
and UM, we're we're so thankful. UM. So we we
have a lot to be thankful. For amongst what otherwise
(21:40):
feels feels from the outside like a super tough time,
I feel like we've grown so close together, um, and
I recognize that this is a chance, this is a
time where some couples could grow apart, and I'm so
thankful that we've grown together as a part of it. Well,
I can tell you as your friend, as I've told
you as this before, just watching you guys, as before
(22:00):
I knew you were even dealing with any of this,
you were inspiring people to me, to anyone that knows
you like y'all just have an inspirational kind of vibe
that you give off as far as how to how
to be in love with someone, how to treat them.
And then now you're going through all this and as
I mentioned, I mean you said, uh, you know, it's
(22:21):
not easy going through what you're going through, but you
guys make it seem that way from the outside. I
hope you know that as your friend, I mean watching
Jocelyn came to a taping of the Real Country Show
the other day for like three hours. You sat in
there during this taping. You guys came to my filming
of the Down to the Honkey Talk video to night
at Honkytalk Central. That's why that's one of the reasons
(22:41):
why we came where you guys met and Um, it's
really just it's it's I hope you all know it.
Not only with that said, with the fact that you're
on here with microphones up to your face, and I
don't think I really realized it until you know, when
I asked you, Ted, I said, you, guys, think you'd
want to share your story? You for people out there
to that that you feel like perhaps would want to
(23:03):
know what you're going through. And because I genuinely believe that,
I genuinely believe that people want to know and want
to if they're going through it or how you're dealing
with it. And but at the same time too, it's
strong of you to to say yes, to open yourself
up to the world out there that we live in
and educate them with what you're going through. So how
do you feel, Jocelyn, Well, I'm just I'm like a
(23:27):
very positive person in general, so just staying positive and
not like when my mind starts to go negative. I'm
just like, Okay, I switched gears and think positively. Um,
and Ted has been fabulous to stay positive with me
because I know it's not easy, but like surrounding ourselves
with friends and family, and we have our sweet dog
(23:49):
and Charlie common which is very helpful. We have a
catney Willie Nelson too, so you can who sleeps with
me every night. I have two goats named Brooks and Dunn.
So do you have a cat named Willie Nelson. I've
got a dog named Merle. I got two goats sat
Brooks and John. But you justin talked about staying positive
(24:10):
and UM. I told Jake earlier. I was like, man,
I have so much to say. I'm like trying to
organize my thoughts and He's like, come on, man, just
making a conversation. But and it's true and it does
feel just right. But you know, for anyone out there
that's going through something like this or UM, I just can't.
I can't stress enough the importance to focus on what
(24:31):
is positive? What, what are you thankful for? What are
you grateful and for? In that situation, one of the
things we really latched on too early on was that
we caught it early, which we did. UM. She has
a stage two UM. The lymph node was negative. And
for those that you know what that means. That's a
really good thing. That means it had not spread. Um
(24:52):
and uh. But we celebrated this idea that if we
had not been pregnant, we never would have found out
that she had this because we found this out on
our on our first trip to our doctor when we
found out she was pregnant. And that now all of
a sudden, Charlie wears this permanent badge of honor that
she saved her mom's life. And and for literally for
(25:14):
a month and a half, that was like this like
foundation of positivity for us was that Charlie saved her life.
We caught this thing early. And so whatever it is
that you're latching onto, it's critically important that you focus
on what is that's positive in the situation and not
focusing on what you can't control and what's negative. And
(25:36):
I think that I think that's so true to life, man, seriously,
And maybe that's why you guys inspire me in a way,
Like just you sitting there saying that is for what
you're going through. True. But I think no matter what
you're going through in life, focusing on that positive side
of things will always get you through, as opposed to
(25:57):
the negative. And I was I think you were going
to say something to John. I was just going to say, like,
you can focus on there's like all the percentages. It's
like there's a ten percent chance it can come back,
there's a five percent chance. You know, so there's like
all those numbers, and you tended like go to those,
but it's like, okay, well, Ted and I were talking
in the ginning, Well, hello, that's chance. It's not like
(26:20):
that's a huge number. So focus on those numbers, the
positive numbers, instead of the negative ones, because that's what
that's what I'll get you through. Yeah, And and and
in focusing on the idea, and this has just been
so profound in both of our lives, is just realizing
that really not in control. So you can latch onto
the tim per cent chance, but then what are you
(26:40):
gonna do with that? There's nothing, nothing that you can
do from there. Um, what if you think of think
about it this way too, What if someone gave you
odds or the chances and percentages that we're talking about numbers?
What is like the way they give you in them
about cancer? Right? Like, what if someone said give you, hey,
here's the percentage head of you gonna go out on
(27:02):
Broadway tonight with your buddy and meet a woman that
you're going to live the rest of your life with
and have a child, and she's gonna go through what
you're going through now. And someone told you that was
gonna happen you, that you that you would right. So
forget the percentages, man, forget the just live life like
take the take the chance to appreciate it and and
(27:24):
and and make the most of it. And I think
that's what I know. It's hard to talk about this
and even the word cancer, but like I hope you
guys know that you're you're so special. You're special people.
I'm lucky to be your friend and I'm and I
feel fortunate that you all have included me in your
lives what you have. But uh for you to take
the time and talk about this tonight and and share
(27:48):
your story with so many people that you don't know,
that don't know you. But I feel I find can
still find inspiration from you. I mean, I admire you
guys a lot, appreciate that what um is there anything
that you know? Y'all? You said it very well to it,
but maybe you Jocelyn, that you wanted to share with
any woman out there that's going through what you're going
(28:10):
through or might just be pregnant and and and having
scared thoughts about you know, I don't know, you're just
you're a special woman. I'd like to hear your thoughts
before we get out of here. Um, I definitely just
say that, like I don't know, like I chalked my
little bump up to be pregnancy because I mean I've
never been pregnant before, so I had no idea. But
(28:32):
I think definitely like if there's something different, like go
get it checked out. Um there's I've seen so many
younger girls now that have been diagnosed like in their
early twenties, which is crazy to me because they don't
do like mamograms until you're forty or something. So it's
just it blows my mind. And I kind of want
(28:54):
to get that awareness out there that they're younger and
younger women and right do you hear that a lot too?
Doctors say like if your your body is truthful to you,
like if your body is telling you something or you
notice something that's not not right, didn't get it checked out, Like,
don't don't just sit around and wait, NA say T yeah,
(29:15):
Well I was just gonna say, um So, I just
wanted to share just one last one nugget and we'll
get out of here. But that, UM, and I think
it's important to kind of pull this thing full circle.
Is that, UM, And I told you this, UM a while,
a couple of weeks ago when we were together. That
it's made me appreciate to that, like, everybody has stuff
(29:37):
going on in their life, like we we spent several
months in our bubble right after the diagnosis trying to comprehend,
making decisions around UH surgeries and decisions related to treatment,
and we were surrounded by all these people that knew
exactly what was going on in our life. You had
all the attention, all the sympathy. Everything that like was
(29:59):
comforting in that moment. And I made this decision to
go on a trip to Chicago for a day trip.
And Jocelyn had encouraged me to go and thought, hey,
it'll be really good for you to get out, and
I had not. I had not worked almost in a
month at this point, and um, so I made this
decision I was going to go to Chicago. And I
get to the Nashville airport and I walked into the airport,
(30:22):
and in that moment, I realized there was not one
single person around me. They had any idea what was
going on in my life. Nothing, nothing. Everybody was in
their own world and so and so should they be.
You know, no one knew what was going on. And
I felt so uncomfortable in that moment, and I was
having this self pity that no one knew what I
was going through and that was broken and that I
(30:43):
needed this support. And so I found myself in wine
buying a water in a magazine at one of the stores,
and there was this woman in front of me and
she was she was trying to pay, and she was
fumbling for some loose change, and I was having this
total selfish moment where I thought, oh, man, come on, lady,
like that she was taking a while to pay, and
like house timing, how many times we roll in that
(31:04):
selfish moment, we're in a hurry. And then I stopped
myself and it was such a profound moment that has
carried with me is that I realized, here, no one
knows what's going on in my life, and I'm broken,
But I don't know what's going on in her life.
Maybe she's fumbling for change because she's her son got
diagnosed or something, or maybe she's having challenges with her husband,
or maybe she lost a loved one or who knows,
(31:26):
and and it just like totally sobered me in the moment,
and thought, we need to be nicer to people, like
we need to be respectful to one another, and that
if our culture and our society and our country and
our world could be a little bit more respectful and
a little bit more understanding that other people have stuff
going on. And it was such a huge takeaway from me,
and his literally like changed in my life since that
(31:49):
day and just tried to make me more aware of
other people that are around me. So my point is
is that amongst what feels like an other word otherwise
really hard time, there's so many little little nuggets that
have come from it. And our relationship as a married
couple has come closer together as a result. And yes,
(32:09):
we're fighting something hard, but we're more self aware of
our surroundings and our friends and our family and and
so again it goes back to like focusing on all
these positive things that you can identify amongst a really
hard time. Yeah, that's really well said. I mean I
was just sitting here and all of listening and you're talking.
You're right, man. I told you when we started talking
(32:31):
about a little bit about that a few weeks back.
How I felt when I came home from Las Vegas
on October two. It was it was really weird being
there October one last year when obviously that tragic event
happened and tons of people lost their lives. And I
(32:51):
got home that was a Sunday night, October one when
that happened, and I got home on Monday, and that
night was Erica's birthday, my girlfriend and um. I was
driving down towards where we were having our party to
surprise her, and the same sort of thing. I remember
looking over at Buffalo Wild Wings and all these people
(33:12):
are in the parking lot with their jerseys on, walking
inside because it was Monday night. Football is like are
you ready for alsome football? And there's this part of
me driving on the road that thought to myself, like,
how can these people know that last night in Las Vegas?
Like they didn't know that I was going through that,
like that I was there, and as you said, nor
should they, Like why why should they know? But there
(33:33):
was a huge part of me that just felt like,
how can these people, why can Monday night football not
just happen tonight? Can they not just take a break
and people just for a moment, respect the fact that
this happened. But at the end of the day, as
you said it, life goes on, Like in life happens,
and you have to make the most of it while
you're here, and and and and be kind to people
(33:55):
and do the right thing and see the bright side
of the day. And um, the way you said that
said it was so well said and so sums up
exactly what this whole podcast I hope has done for
people this first season that I've done. And I think
you guys are a great way for me to to
sum it up this first season before I go into
(34:15):
the second season. I told you that earlier and how
you said it. I hope everyone listening really as almost
as speechless as I am the way you said that,
because it's really profound. Not only I mean I wish
you had a bigger platform than just me and the
Good Company to say what you just said. I hope
people take what you said and spread it through their
lives and their friends and families, just um, because it's
(34:40):
not easy sometimes to put into words what we should
do as a as a world, as a country, um,
in order to live life in a more positive manner.
And uh, I try to do it each every other
week on this this podcast. And you just did it
in about a minute and a half long little dissertation
and it was just dude, it's really well set. And
(35:02):
again I appreciate it's weird. I'm sure to sit here
with your buddy as it is for me to stay
here with you guys, and we're having a chat with
Mike's in our face. But it really felt real and
honest to me. And I'm glad you guys did it.
And I hope everyone out there kind of take something
away from this and has had the pleasure of meeting
Ted and Jocelyn tonight. And as you go through this journey, man,
(35:23):
we're going to continue to. Uh. I know everyone out
there listening, it's gonna be sending prayers for you guys,
and I I already do, but I'm gonna continue to.
And I'm really excited for y'all. I'm excited to meet Charlie.
This the Badge of Honor where for saving saving your life? Jocelyn. Yeah,
she sure did so. When when's the due date? January
(35:47):
January five, Wintertime Baby, Winter Time by my mom was
January one. She was a new New Year's baby, so
you never know. You could be early, could be late.
She came at midnight twelve oh one on so ever,
and I love your mom, so shout out Mitzio and
(36:11):
from from Joscelyn Limmer. She just shouted out. She was
a mom reference right there. This has been definitely I mean, honestly,
if you're listening, as you know, this has probably gone
on a little longer than what usual, but um, and
it seemed to be a little bit more somber than
than usual podcast. But this is probably the most special
one that I've ever been a part of to talk
(36:31):
to you all and hear your story and appreciate you
being so honest and open and vulnerable for everybody listening.
And um, we appreciate you guys, y'all. I'll say bye
to Ted and Jocelyn. Wish them uh incredible luck on
their journey together. I know that you guys will be
great and um, you inspired me as I said, so
you are good company Ted and Jocelyn, which is a perfect,
(36:54):
perfect people for this for this show. I love you guys,
thanks for listening, and um look forward to seeing y'all
in a couple of weeks when I come back with
Season two with a lot of new topics and fun
things to talk about. It's been fun. Whoa play Yeah,
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