Baggage Claim
Baggage Claim is a space for blended families, marriage, and friendship.
Here, we dive into real-life conversations about the ups and downs of relationships, from navigating second marriages to unpacking the baggage we all bring. Hosted by Greg and Jessica, who both have rich experiences with love, loss, and family, this community is about sharing stories, learning together, and growing stronger as couples and individuals. Grab a drink and join us as we unpack, laugh, and claim our baggage—one conversation at a time
Baggage Claim
When Life Feels Blah, Choose What Matters
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Something feels off, but you can’t quite name it and then one day you finally say it out loud: “We’re missing fun.” That’s where we start, with Greg, Jess, and Michael trading jokes, real confessions, and the kind of honest marriage talk that usually only happens after everyone’s been sitting at the kitchen table for a while.
We bounce from “fun red flags” (ADHD detours, laundry that never gets folded, and a very serious Georgia football household) into a deeper conversation about seasons and expectations. Jess shares what it’s like to shift from summer freedom to the back-to-school grind as a teacher, and Greg explains how those first weeks impact the whole relationship. We dig into a simple but hard truth: when life changes, our expectations have to change too, or we’ll start taking normal stress personally.
From there, we talk purpose and what fills your bucket, especially when work and routines drain you. We unpack the idea that you can give your best effort every day, but your best gets better when you invest in healthy community, meaningful hobbies, and the things that restore you. We also wrestle with adult friendships, how hard they are to build, and why personal connection matters more than appearances, vacations, or stuff. You’re not alone, and you’re not meant to do life alone.
If this conversation hits home, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review so more families can find us. What season are you in right now, and what do you want to water on purpose?
Welcome To Real Talk
gregHey guys, what's up? I'm Greg. I hope you guys are ready to unpack and get into some good conversations today.
SPEAKER_05And I'm Jess, and this is our podcast, Baggage Plane. Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER_01What's up, Baggage Plain? How's everybody doing? Why are you patting into the microphone?
gregMan, what? Okay, so it's summer. We're we're into the second episode for tonight.
MichaelYes, we are doing.
jessAnd it's a hundred o'clock.
gregIt is. It is about a hundred o'clock. Welcome to Baggage Claim. Baggage Claim, let me just say really quick We're nonsense. Is this place? We're creating some conversation and community around blended families, relationships. And tonight you are in for a treat. If you are catching this episode, I think it's episode 71, which is nuts to me that we've been going for 71 odd plus, minus give or take a couple weeks of episodes.
MichaelWell, I think it's episode 71 because when we did the last episode, we had a big debate on what number it was. But if you go back and claim home, you know what you do?
jessYou don't care which episode it is.
MichaelYou don't even honestly.
jessYou keep coming back.
gregAnd if you think we're idiots and you're still here, thank you. Yeah, appreciate that. You know what? I'm gonna tell you this is what I'm gonna tell you right now. Grab your favorite drink.
jessPlease do.
gregGrab it, grab a big old glass of that favorite drink, a big old cup of that. Pull yourself up to the table.
jessOh, what if you could sit at the table with us? We're sitting literally at the table.
gregI'd love for you guys to sit at the table with us. And just we're gonna have real talk tonight. Yeah. Tonight is real.
MichaelI will say I love about this whole shenanigans we get to do with baggage claims. Every concept we talk about begins at our dinner table.
jessBecause Michael, if I'm dinner table. If I'm gonna shenan once.
MichaelYou're gonna shenanigan? I love that. No, but like I love that the imagery of that.
jessAnd it just Are you so proud of that?
MichaelI am. That's a good one.
gregBut I I agree. Like, this is not like what we do here at Baggage Theme around our table starts at our kitchen table.
MichaelIt's not just a something we say. No. And the whole purpose of this episode right here is just real talk. Like that's honestly it. We're just life updates, things that's going on in our lives, and different things that we'll have questions for in a little bit. But that's one thing I love about this is because it's just real. Yeah. We just talk about life, and when we're trying to find concepts of what we talk about, when we discuss topics and all the different depths of those topics, it it's while we're just sitting around communing with dinner. Yeah.
gregIt's nuts we were really doing first Friday, like a 4th of July celebration.
jessOh my gosh, it was wonderful.
gregA couple weeks ago here in downtown Gainesville, Georgia. Um, and we ran into a sweet lady we did a mission trip with in Romania, and she's listening to this.
jessBut literally 13 years ago.
gregAnd she every time we see her, she still hugs our neck. I love God, I love her. Miss Sherry. She's the best. And she was like, How's the podcast? And I was like, you know what's crazy, Sherry? We're in 56 different countries. And I was like, and almost 400 cities.
jessThat's just she's so precious. She was like, Well, I don't doubt it. Yeah.
gregIt's just like it's just crazy to me that it's the whole idea and the concept was is that we want to create something that helps families be better. Just helps marriages be better.
jessAnd we've never, ever, ever said, hey, we're perfect, look at us, and do what we do. Because if our church, an organization, and if I connect with a church, four children were in this room with us, and two of the spouses, they would be like, uh, no, they're not perfect. But do they try to, I would hope they would say, do they try to live out what they're talking about? Yes.
MichaelYeah. I mean the whole purpose is being real. And part of being real is being able to self-acknowledge where you stand. And that that acknowledges rights and wrongs. But the whole purpose of what we talk about is it also acknowledges the next steps. What are we doing to get better? And what I think is so cool about the topics we talk about, you know, if you go behind the scenes, is almost every single, if not every single episode topic we've talked about comes from us just talking about life and then asking, okay, well, what's the next step? Yeah. And then going, oh my gosh, that would be an incredible episode to talk about. Because that's what I'm going through. That's what I need to work on. And the reality is if I've got to work on something, chances are someone else does too. Yep.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
MichaelWe're walking through the same stuff you guys are.
gregYeah. Same time. It's just crazy. It really is, but we're we're in it.
jessWait, you're not perfect?
gregI have never even claimed to be close to perfect. So um let's jump into less disappointing. Let's jump into before we get too real. Let's jump into a uh fun little question. Wow, that was nice. Thank you, Michael. Little Michael Jackson. Yes. The Johnson Foundation.
MichaelYou know, I had a roommate who had no sponsors, actually. Whose last name was Johnson as well? No, but so people would always put Johnson and Johnson stickers on our door. Of course. Why would you not? Yeah, that's an easy one. Good old Josh Johnson. If you ever uh listen to this episode, still think about your bud. Oh, yeah.
jessSo what I propose because Michael is actually a literally professional at singing. I think you need to figure out how to record a track with you yourself singing all the harmonizing parts so that then you can. I know. I can do this, then you can just click just press a button.
MichaelYeah. We have no button pressing going on here. We don't have any buttons to press. That costs the money to buy the buttons.
SPEAKER_01I'm sorry. We are still very low budget, Jess.
MichaelAgain, if I would I would like to encourage you to. We would need to buy a stream deck for that, which I would love. If someone wants to donate a stream deck, please let us know.
jessYes, please do.
gregI don't know what that is, but or go to unpack together.com, buy some merch, or go to Patreon and uh follow us and become a newbird. Or just send us some money on zale.
SPEAKER_02Whatever you want to do.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, I'll take it.
gregWe are balling on a budget with Amazon.
MichaelWe are tearing it up.
SPEAKER_01We did question time. We did a question. We did two questions.
jessHave a question.
MichaelThis is real talk. This is really what happened.
SPEAKER_01We're all over the place. Just bear with us today. It's gonna be fun. Yes.
jessNo Lucy.
MichaelI'm bearing with you. Sorry. Oh my god. That was so cheesy. That was a joke my brother and I used to do when we were.
jessI just called him Lucy. That's our granddaughter. She's almost two. If you say, what does a dinosaur say? She'll put one hand up in like a claw and she'll go, rar.
unknownOkay.
Funny Red Flags And Football Fever
jessGreg. What's a red flag that I have that's actually funny?
gregA red flag?
jessRed flag means is something that's like, yikes, steer away from that. No.
MichaelIt's like when the red flag goes to the beach, you don't go swimming.
jessRight. Literally.
gregNo swimming flag.
jessA red flag. That's actually kind of funny now that you know about me.
gregCan you go?
jessYeah. You're ADHD.
MichaelThat's a red flag. Can I, while y'all are thinking, can I say one that is actually one I think I had about y'all?
jessOkay.
MichaelLike as a whole. Oh. And then now I've been completely absorbed into that red flag.
jessOMG, I'm ready. Yes, please.
MichaelGeorgia football. No!
jessNo! But it's a literally it's a red flag. Go dogs.
MichaelSo that was in the beginning. Not that it was like a red flag, stay away. I just, you know me, I don't have sports teams. Like, I really don't. I love sports.
jessMichael Johnson says, go sports. Go ball team. Goat ball team.
MichaelNo, so I used to do vending, and so I've been to numerous like Super Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Final Fours, like all of them, and everyone's always like, oh, well, who are you cheering for? And I was just like, I don't care.
jessI'm cheering for the money.
MichaelYes, absolutely. And honestly, as a salesman, my answer definitely depended on what jersey they were wearing.
jessDid you think we were weirdos?
MichaelOnly slightly. But the reality is, what did I do this fall for the first time after a three week?
jessI bought your first Georgia gear. That's right. I'm so proud of you.
MichaelI bought two hoodies and a shirt.
jessYeah.
gregSo I'm going to go to the house. I will say this the first year I would invite Michael because Saturdays around here are a big deal in our life.
jessIt's a big deal.
gregSo Saturdays, like if Georgia's playing at eight o'clock, it doesn't matter. We're going to have the grill going. Okay, pause. We're going to be out at 11 o'clock.
jessIt's such a big deal. Okay, decorating our home is important to me. It's I like cozy. It's important to me. When we got married, Greg said he felt like there's a store called Hobby Lobby. He said, I feel like Hobby Lobby threw open our house. But it's important to me that our house looks like a home. Well when it's football season, I take a lot of the decorations down in our house and I put up Georgia Bulldog decorations or football decorations.
gregYes.
jessAnd you've never minded that.
gregNo, I haven't.
jessSo like when we were dating, tell about that. When we first get into know each other.
gregI will in a minute. But we like Saturdays around here in fall are like Oh, it's all in. Don't invite us.
jessDon't invite us to do anything out in the world.
gregYeah, especially if it's a big game.
jessYeah, don't.
gregIf it's a non-game, I'll come and maybe hang out. Um but dude, I'm gonna be here. There's gonna be friends here.
MichaelCraig, in the three years I've been to Georgia Games with you, you're at a Georgia game. If a Georgia is playing, you are at your house hanging out. Even if I had plans, you're you're like, bro, we're doing that on Friday or a Sunday afternoon. Like you come over to my place on Saturday.
gregThat is true. And we just it's just a lounge around, hang out, play games.
jessWe try to theme the dinner according to who we're playing, if we can. It's a fun just like if you if we play the Razorbacks, we smoke a pig or if it's an early game, we always stay late and watch late games all over the place.
gregThat's a thing. And if it's a late game, we show up early and watch the games. All the early games, and so it's like it's just fun to hang out and have fun. So it's really just a community kind of thing that we've just And I could I could see how it's kind of weird.
jessOh, that's a red flag.
gregYeah, I could see how it's kind of like Well, it's a fun red flag.
MichaelIt's not a red flag, it's a fun red flag.
jessIt just really does make me think back to when we were getting to know each other when we were first dating and talking, and he didn't know yet, but I was such a bulldog fan that as a single person I had season tickets, I had two season tickets that I paid for yearly.
MichaelAre you serious?
jessOh yeah.
MichaelSo did this come from you?
jessMe per no, he was always a dog fan, but like I'm like overboard.
gregSo there were three questions I asked you. This is real, real talk. This is real talk. So I was like, there's three questions we got together, and I was like, we'd been on one date, and I was like, hey, there's a couple things.
jessOne date. You hear that? One because I didn't want to waste time.
MichaelHey, and you're on the first date, or this is after the first date. It's after. Okay, so at least there was that. Yeah. This thank you.
jessThat was our first real date. Oh my god.
gregSo I was like, Do you do you mind if I drink? She goes, No.
jessIn moderation, no, I don't care.
gregYeah, and I was like, all right, whatever. I don't know what that means, but whatever.
jessYes, you do. Two stop it at the time. At the time. Stop it. But I hadn't shared a lot of my paddle this time.
gregSo whatever. Two, I was like, Do you like Georgia football? Or do you like football? And she's like, Yes, I have season tickets to Georgia, uh, Georgia Bulldogs. And I was like, okay, that's a really big plus. Two, do you want any more kids? Or three, do you want any more kids? Those are my three questions.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
gregAnd she's like, No, I don't know. And I was like, okay, cool. We can move forward.
jessLike those are my things, because I'm like I didn't all the way tell the truth on the third one.
gregYeah, she wanted to have a kid together, and I was like, we're not doing that. Um, she was a Georgia Bulldog fan.
jessI've been a dog fan my whole entire life. I grew up going to games. Like, it's been it's my life.
gregAnd so we it was kind of a function.
jessAnd I I know how to talk football. Like I know what I'm talking about. Like, I learned about the players, not only on our team, other teams. I know, like when I was in high school and I was a football cheerleader, like I would tell my friends, like, no, it's a good thing. We just got eight yards towards the first gym. We get second down, so you only have two to go. Blah, blah, blah. Like, I had to like hold on, wait a minute.
gregMy fun red flag was ADHD.
jessYes.
gregI don't know what I was thinking about that.
MichaelI could see that being fun.
jessI will tell you. A red flag is like, oh my god, can you just keep your mind on what we're talking about?
MichaelOr it's like you can't see right now, she's completely rubbing my eyes. Oh my goodness.
jessOr once you get to know you, it's like, okay, this is an adventure. What are we talking about now? And then every now and again, I'm like, okay, so my first question was when we started this conversation was blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we just answered 17 other questions rather than what I talked about. So it could be a red flag that's annoying, or it's a fun red flag.
MichaelAnd you just do you get that click inside of you the moment his eyes catch a thought? Like when, say you're talking. Oh, I can see. You can tell his eyes catch a thought, and you're like, wonder where this is going.
jessHere we go. It's literally in my brain, it's like, okay, here we go.
MichaelI love that because I think of you and me sitting over at Burger and Shake, was it number two?
jessMichael knows that's a fun red flag.
MichaelWe're on L 129. Yes. We're screaming going over. We're talking about ministry plans, actions, what we're going on the next quarter, things like this. We'll be sitting down, like eating a burger or something, and all of a sudden I see the eye change, and I'm like, all right, where is it going? What is about to happen? Because there's no telling what is about to happen next.
greg30 minutes later, like, okay, so my question was I can't, I am not, I have no poker face.
jessNo, you don't.
gregLike, I love it though. It's great. Yeah, I'm very easy to read. My emotions are on my sleeves. Like, I just you can tell how I feel. Like I I'm pretty easy to read.
jessOh, your tone of voice throws sass. Sass?
MichaelOoh, you said that sass a fun way. Yeah.
jessYou said you wear your emotions on your sleeves. I do. I I can't hide them in your voice.
gregI would love to hide them, but I can't.
jessNo, you cannot. I can't.
gregI would love to, but I can't.
jessNo.
gregAll right, Greg, your turn. What's your what's your fun red flag? Fun red flag for Jess?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
The Great Laundry And Ironing Debate
gregLaundry. Laundry.
jessWhat about it?
gregI'm not allowed to touch it, but it doesn't get done.
jessIt doesn't get done. No.
SPEAKER_01It's like one of those things. Hold on. So you did not know you weren't allowed to touch it because we've had many conversations. But I never knew you couldn't touch it. No. Okay. I had to wash something the other day and I had to call it. I was like, how do you work this thing? Like, what do you think? You didn't know how to work the washing machine. Oh my goodness.
jessNo, but like I wash clothes. Like we have clean clothing, and dirty clothes don't pile up, but the clean clothes is the problem.
MichaelI'm with you on that. Yeah.
jessThat's the problem. Like I told you yesterday, I was like, tomorrow I'm gonna fold clothes. This is gonna be the greatest thing ever.
SPEAKER_01No, no, folding clothes.
jessWe've laid around, we watched Game of Thrones, and then we went to the gym, then we went to the pool, and then here we are.
gregYep. That's exactly what happened. We cook dinner and classic weekend.
jessYes.
MichaelSo how many times do you put clothes back in the dryer because they get wrinkled?
jessZero for me. Greg Greg thinks that is the way you're supposed to quote unquote iron clothing if it's wrinkled. I will literally iron clothing.
gregThat iron is aka the dryer. Yes. Absolutely.
MichaelPut it on extra heat, put it on a high blast, jump in the shower as you're getting ready to go. Right. Bada bing, bada bang, you're good to go.
jessIf it's wrinkled for me, I will iron it.
MichaelNah. I will. She will iron her. I used to iron the crap out of everybody. I will too.
jessIron yours if it's terrible and you're going out somewhere to get it. If you want me to.
gregIf you ask me to.
jessYou're the first person in my whole life that I ever have known that will think if you throw a shirt in the dryer for a minute, it makes it not wrinkled.
MichaelNah. I'm the first person. No.
jessFirst person in my whole life.
MichaelI would say when I was younger, I would iron and starts like everything. Like I would iron my jeans every time. Like I would always like do that. But maybe it's just I'm getting older, but I'm like, bruh, 10 minutes in the dryer and we're good to go.
jessIt's not the same thing.
MichaelIt basically is.
jessNo, it's not. If my shirt or my dress or my dress pants or whatever, I will if they're ringing, I will iron it.
MichaelHey, can we do it?
jessWhen my kids were little.
MichaelGuys, we're 17 minutes. Yeah, can we do real talk marriage?
jessWell, when my kids were little on Saturday night, part of my Saturday night routine was to iron everybody's church clothes.
gregDon't iron my clothes. Like ironing my clothes is not like, no, I'm not gonna do that. It's just I'm not that neat. I got better things to do with my talk. Yeah, I'm not that put together. Don't iron my stuff.
jessBut if you look raggedy, I will iron your shirt.
gregWell, I look raggedy most of the time.
jessNo, you do not.
gregSo let's jump into some real talk. Give me some real talk.
jessI feel like that was real talk. That was real talk.
MichaelThat was real talk. That
Back To School Expectations In Marriage
Michaelwas. No, the kind of the purpose was just to be like, what's going on in your life? Yeah. What are those next steps for you right now? What are those struggles? What are the things you're working through?
jessI'm about to have to go back to work in a couple weeks.
MichaelSo how do you deal with that? Like, I mean, that that's a massive adjustment of the city.
jessIt is a huge adjustment for us.
gregJust because Yeah, because summer just is fun. Summer just is late. I love summer jess.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, summer just is a lot of fun.
jessBut I summer just has no idea what even day it is. Summer Jess is a lot more fun than summer. I don't pay attention to the clock. Yes. Like every now and again I'm like, oh, we should probably plan our meals out for the next few days. And he's like, babe, it's Saturday. Like the week is fixing to start tomorrow. I'm like, okay, great. Summer Jess wants to read as much as I possibly can. This past week I've been down. I'm only I think I'm book like seven is where I'm at. But school Jess, I feel like I try to have more fun the older I get, but I have to be a lot more regimented with my time.
gregYeah, the first two weeks of school just is no fun.
jessI did better the last couple years because I learned how much no fun I was. But that's true. I just have to get up so early. So early in the morning.
MichaelWell, how do y'all work through that? When, like, say you hit the first two weeks, like what does that do to our relationship?
gregHere's what I know the first two weeks of school rolls around. We're gonna cook dinner earlier.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
gregJess is gonna go to bed or maybe if she makes it to eight o'clock.
jessIt's a m it's a miraculous situation.
gregWhich means it's a huge transition for me and for us as well.
jessYou're by yourself a lot more.
gregYeah, because Jess comes home. She's not home a whole lot.
jessYeah.
gregShe didn't get home until 4, 4:30. And then we're cooking dinner, doing whatever.
jessOr if we go to the gym or whatever, there's like it's really quick to where Jess is going to bed.
gregSo it's a lot. It takes a little bit for her to get back in the room. I have to keep in mind, she's getting back in the routine of getting up early, going to school, doing those things.
jessI saw my class list today, and I already have 17 kids on there, and I'm just like, I already know some background stories on a few of them just because they went to kindergarten at our school, and then they're going to first grade. And I'm like, whoa, a few of these guys, I've got my work cut out for me. So it's just like getting to know the children and them getting to know me.
gregFor me, it's just a chill, no, that we're gonna have two weeks, it's off. It tastes just chill as in chill away from Jess.
MichaelWell, like is that what I mean?
jessI was just gonna say he adjusts his expectations.
MichaelYeah. I think that's crucial. Like, and here's my thought. Like, I'm I'm listening to this story because like I get it. There's different ebbs and flows with life and different things like that. And we talk about marriage, we talk about relationships, all these things. But what you just said right there is crucial.
jessYeah.
MichaelAn understanding of a difference of expectations in these time frames.
jessYeah.
MichaelHow did y'all walk through that previous seasons of life? Like, what were the frustrations y'all hit that led you to the point to know, hey, Greg, you gotta have different expectation levels in these first few weeks?
We Are Doing This Together
jessFor ten and a half years, and part of that was about half of that. That was before I met Greg. I was a Pair Pro, which is like a teacher assistant. So I had responsibilities, but I was not the lead teacher. So I just kind of like filling and fluff and whatever. But then when we decided that I was gonna go back to school and I got I had my own classroom, it was just a whole different like for my own self, it was a a mind shift of like, okay, now I have to do this on my own, like in the classroom on my own. But Greg was such a big support too, that it was just kind of like, we're do we are doing this. So from the get-go of when I decided that I was gonna be a full-time teacher on my own, it was just that was from the from the beginning, that was our mindset that it was we are doing this. Well, because does that make sense?
MichaelNo, and I actually find that I mean, not to be weird, but like that's incredibly adorable. Like you walk through life, you're saying, like, Jess, this is your life. Yeah, now yeah, y'all are married. Like it's my career. Your career, your life, your daily routine, yeah, what you are doing outside of Greg's life, yet at the same time, it was and you feel at this point supported enough to say we have been doing this.
gregWell, we had a at the time the actual crux of the whole movement came from we had a good friend of ours who was in the corporate world who said, Hey, I have an accounting position that's opening up.
jessJust I know I have been in banking for eleven years.
gregI know you have the experience in this. I would love to consider you for this job if you're if you're interested in this. And so we literally sat and talked about because she was a pair pro at the time, making nothing. Pear pros make nothing. Like it's less than minimum wage. I figured it out. It was two. It's like like three dollars an hour.
SPEAKER_03It's really sad.
gregAnd they do a lot of the a lot of work.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
gregUm, and I told her, I was like, okay, so here's the deal. You have an opportunity to go into the corporate world and make an actual good salary. But here's here's what you're gonna be doing. What do you love? Like, what do you want to do? And so we sit down and had a conversation, and she's like, I love teaching.
jessAnd I was like, But I also love being a mommy for our kids.
gregI was like, if you want to teach, then let's go back to school, get a teaching degree.
jessDid you hear him say it? Let's go back to school.
gregSo I was like, if that's what you want to do, yeah, let's do that, and then you go to school, and then you can actually make a living from teaching and not just what we're doing now, because this is not sustainable, what you're doing.
jessSo I had an associate's degree before that. And so the let's go back to school means like whatever, because it had been a hundred years since I got the associate's degree. So whatever school I got accepted to that was full-time online because I had a full-time job, and we you had a full-time job, and we are full-time parents of four children. It's like it has to work for us.
gregWell, Jess was at the time, yeah, I had a full-time job. You were a pair pro and we had four kids, and they were in the thick of sports.
jessIn four different places.
gregYeah, doing all the things. And so we just decided we're like, okay, this is what we're gonna do. This is what you want to do. And so she goes, Yeah, I want to teach. And so we headed down that road.
jessYeah. And that's what about two and a half years-ish.
gregWell, you got your Well You got your degree, and then you got your master's degree all at the same time.
jessAbout eighteen months for me to get my bachelor's degree, and then quote unquote, I took a year off, but then I got my ESOL certification, which is the ability to teach children that English is their second language. And then after that, I went back to school and got my master's degree in elementary education.
gregThere's a lot of school for a lot of kids doing a lot of stuff.
jessYeah.
gregIt was just it wasn't just a commitment on my part, it was all our kids.
jessIt was all the kids.
gregUm, I'm like, okay, if this is what you want to do, we're gonna chase it. Yeah, because there's no better time for us to chase it. And so for I'm sure that support made a big difference for you.
jessI couldn't have done it without that.
gregAnd so even for now, like when Jess is starting school, or like there's the man, teachers have such rhythms. And uh good buddy of mine, Michael, Michael and Ashley were on the podcast, but Michael and always laugh around and joke with each other.
jessWe're like, man, our wives are starting to school back, so we're gonna see them for two weeks, and they're literally like that wife's her name is Ashley, and so there's summer dress and summer ash, and then school dress and school ash. They're different.
gregYeah, when they start school, it's takes us a couple months to get like yeah, back to normal to being able to want to go out and do something stay up past 7 30. Yeah, so but you know, it's just part of knowing those rhythms and knowing that is okay. You just gotta figure it out and work through it and not be frustrated or mad at it because it's not what you want.
jessYeah, and I've been really fortunate with your career, plural careers, jobs, whatever the path may be, that you have been able to not only support me at home, but you have been able to support me in different ways at school. So you have found ways to be able to kind of insert yourself in that part. So it is still a let's do this. It's it's us still.
gregYeah.
Finding Fun And What Fills You
gregWhich I'm actually in the process of probably transitioning into. I've been doing real estate full time for four years now. I've been doing it for n eight years, almost nine years, uh, sometimes full time, sometimes part-time. Uh I've been on full-time for the last few years, and so now I'm in the transition of going, all right, I want to go back to I'm a people person, so I need to be around people.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
gregUh I work better on teams, I work better with around people, and so being by myself most of the time during the day is not a good thing for me uh emotionally, mentally.
jessAlso, when that change happens, we will have to adjust to that. Yeah, and it will look really different because I mean, like the past three or four years, my my little my first graders have gotten to know who Mr. Peck is, and they'll say, like, he'll show up in the first few weeks of school with some sort of treat, and whatever that initial treat is, they'll say, When's Mr. Peck bringing donuts again? Or when's Mr. Peck bringing bubbles again? Like he's a very visible part of my classroom. And so when that change happens, when you shift gears, it's gonna be another change.
gregBut honestly, that whole shift comes from a part of his baggage claim. Like, I need to provide more money so we can expand baggage claim and do more. And so we're trying to figure out ways that we can do that.
jessYeah.
gregUh, and so that's part of it is me to get it.
jessIt's gonna be a shift for my my school and my my friend group at school because you're kind of like the community husband of like, is Greg gonna come apply? Is he gonna come volunteer for field day? Like, is he gonna be here the whole day or just half the day?
gregYeah, it's just so true. Which I love.
jessIt's like, how long is he gonna be an open house? Do we get him for all three hours or just give him half the time? It's like he's a very yeah.
unknownYeah.
MichaelSo if I can ask one thing before, because I know we're kind of starting to transition to talk, Greg. Um, before we do that, Jess, what's one thing in this this current season shifting into a new season that you're looking forward to to grow in?
jessWell, like Greg said, he is a uh he's a people person. There's no doubt about that. And so in this this season of him being mostly full-time real estate, not all the way, but mostly, he he's when I'm at school, he's home here a lot alone. Or if y'all happen to have lunch or what whoever, you know, coffee appointments and those kinds of things. But for you to get back out there and be with people, that's where you thrive. That's something that I look forward to see you getting back into because that's what kind of gets your juices flowing, is being with people. That's what I'm looking forward to. Now, will there be, you know, whatever, wherever you land, may there be some evenings or you know, if you're out of town or whatever, and I am I gonna have a hard time with those things? Yes, absolutely. Because I still don't like being alone. Um, but you know, we've got kids that live nearby and those and those kinds of things that will help me. But I'm looking forward to seeing you, you know, kind of get your creative community people oriented.
gregWell, we even talked about today, and this is real talk. I told you that so I was like, man, our marriage doesn't seem as fun as it used to be. I was like, I f we're missing fun. I was like, like we just we seem stressed, we seem pushed, we seem Well the word I use is blah. Yeah, and I was like, we gotta find the fun. And I don't know what that means, but I know I'm at my best when I'm around other people and I'm leading people and I'm in that team environment. That's that's where I thrive. I know that. And that's where what's crazy is when I'm in that, you get the best of me.
SPEAKER_03I do.
gregUm and when I'm not in that, I think you don't, and I think yeah, we've just been missing that for a few years, and that's just it's just sad, but that's kind of where we're at. And I was like, I don't want to be that way. Like this is our one shot.
jessIt's not like I don't get your best. Like I get your best effort as my husband, but as a as a person separate from me. Yes. That is a that is a different thing.
MichaelThere is a difference because you can still give your best every day. Right. But also when you talk about and you you just touched on something there, Greg, that I'm gonna be honest, I think so many people miss out on is being able to know and do something that fills you. Yeah.
jessYeah.
gregThat's what I'm gonna do. Like, I've I mean, dude, you ask me what I've done in my life.
jessIt's it's a list of my lawns.
gregIt's pretty insane.
jessYeah, yeah.
gregBut I've always chased things that are intriguing to me and fun to me, that challenge me and push me.
jessAnd so as well as though, as much as you say that, like what also you've chased after are things that invest in other people too. Like, as much as you want to push yourself, you always want to push others to be the best that they can be.
MichaelYeah, and I agree with that. Always, but I I think that part of that many people get to do what they love doing for work. You know what I mean? Now, don't be wrong, sometimes we don't get to do that because sometimes you have bills to pay, sometimes opportunities don't present themselves when the money is needed. You gotta take certain jobs at certain times. And I get that, but also at the same time, even in hobbies, in secondary thing, whether it's gardening, whether it's for me, like what a great bucket filler, something that just fills me is tinkering with electronics. Yeah, like literally, if you have something that is electronic at your place that doesn't work, and you ask me if I want to look at it. You want to fiddle with it. I want to fiddle with it.
jessFor me, for me, it's just I have your typewriter right now.
MichaelYes, you guys forgot about that.
jessFor me, it's reading. That's my thing that fills my bucket is reading.
MichaelYou talk about giving your best. Yes, Greg, you can give your best to Jess every single day. But I think one thing so many people miss out on is we don't invest in the things that fill us up. And it's different for everyone. For some people, it may be reading a book.
jessFor some people, it may be that's me.
MichaelBut go when you get to do the things that fill you, Greg, even though you give your best every day to Jess, when you do the things that fulfill you, your best on one day could be a thousand times better than your best on another day.
jessYeah, but also the the sad thing is that there's so many people that only want to concentrate on what fills me up and what makes me feel great. And not a partner.
MichaelI would agree with that, yes, completely.
jessIt gets out of control.
MichaelIt does.
jessIf you're not careful.
MichaelI'm pretty simple.
gregBut how do you balance that? I'm a pretty simple guy.
jessI never What fills your bucket, babe?
gregI never chased money. Like money's never been my object to say I gotta make a certain amount of money. I won't uh uh Man, as crazy as it is, if I get to the end of my life do all the things I've got to do. Man, if if if my kids can look at me and and and my wife can look at me and say, Man, I know he loved me, and I know I he valued me, and we spent time together, that for me is worth more than any amount of a paycheck that I could get. Like that's that's invaluable to me. Like I I want my kids, like I I want to love them the way that I should. I want to be there for them the way that I because that there's a lot of times I didn't have that. Um and so for me when I look at this, and what's crazy is I'm I'm at this point in my life where I'm at the age where people should be like, bro, you should be like looking to settle down. Like you you're you're at the you should be looking to retire in. And I'm like, bro.
jessYou're gonna be just like your grandfather.
gregI was like, I'm not retiring. No. And I'm just I'm a I'm about to ramp back up. You're switching gears. Like I'm ready to go. Like I got a lot more in the bucket to to to do. I got a lot more that I want to do. I'm not done. Like I I want to keep going and I'm gonna keep pushing myself and challenging myself up until the day that I can't anymore. So I'm not the guy that's like, oh, I want to hit my 60s and retire. No, bro, that's not me. I don't want to do that.
jessWhich is so funny because I mean, in my career, I have a I have an end there, there is an end date for teachers, and I'm just like, okay, how fast can I get there? Because I'm like, I think at this point I have like six years left, and then you can retire with your full all the things the state. I don't but I'm like, yeah, I will retire and I'll be a full-time grandma, a full-time wife.
gregI'm like, see, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be a full-time grandpa and a full-time husband, no matter what I'm doing. Yeah, that's true. I don't I don't care what I'm doing, yeah, but I'm not quitting. I'm not retiring. I'm not one I not to jump on anything. I think it's unbiblical. I don't think it's a I don't think God created us to sit on the sidelines. I think he created us to fight and to go as hard as I can go until I can't go anymore. Like that's that's who I am. Like, and so this next adventure of where I'm at in my life, I'm just looking to say, okay, what what doors are gonna open? What's next for me? Where do I get to? Because I've had the talent of setting at the table with uh guys who are run Fortune 500 companies or Fortune 100 companies and also travel around the world 10 to 15 times. I mean, I I guys give me that opportunity to be like, okay, so what do we do with it now? Yeah, like what kind of impact do I make, or what kind of impact do we leave for my for my family for because man, stuff stuff. Yeah, it goes. Literally, that's it.
SPEAKER_01It just goes, man.
gregNobody cares about it. Like nobody cares. I don't care what you drive, I don't care where you live. I literally could care less. Yeah, that doesn't matter to me. Like the fact that Lucy screams when she sees my truck come down the driveway and I walk in the door, that that matters to me.
jessThe other day, they or Miranda came over for supper and you were not home yet. And she walked in the way our house is designed. She walked in from the dining room through the kitchen. The fireplace comes way out. And she walked all the way around and was looking on the couch, and she turned around with me and threw her hands up with crinkle eyebrows. She said, Gee going? And I said, Yeah, G's going, but he'll be home in a minute. And then she looked back and then she turned around with more drama. G going. I was like, Yes, G's going, but he'll be home. But like you said, when she saw first of all, our dog Bailey barked like an insane dog when he saw your truck, but then she noticed it, and then she started screaming. It was this whole like celebration that G was home and she met you at the back door where your truck, where you park your truck, and it was just the whole thing that she was like, first of all, G should not be going if I'm not with G. Because she was really offended. But the fact that you know Lou knows that like G is a huge part of her life, and it's really disappointing when you're not here.
Friends, Meaning, And Letting Go
gregI just think our lives, man, real talk is what do we want? Like it's crazy, man. Since I turned 50, I look at life completely different than I did before. It's just it's weird how it's changed for me. Like, I see the finish line. Like, that's what's weird to me. Like, I can see the finish line. Like, it's not that far away.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
gregUm, and so I look at it and going, what do I want to leave? What matters to me?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
gregWhat really matters? Is it the nicer house? Is it a nicer car? Or is it something else?
jessWell, to kind of tag along with what you just said, like when you're an adult, especially our age, having friends is weird. Having friends is hard.
gregIt's hard, dude. It's so hard when you get older.
jessIt's hard. And so, like, when your kids are little and they're playing ball, and you know, your practices in ball games or gymnastics or cheer or whatever the case may be, you're with those people two or three times a week. So it's like, oh yeah, she's my friend, and we do this, and this is what we do, and we text all the time, and it's my friend. But like when your kids grow up and they are adulting, and then those relationships kind of leave, and then you're left to your own devices to have like actual real friends, that's hard.
MichaelYeah. Like I feel like adults are I mean, I'm in my 30s and I already feel that way. Yeah. Yeah, it just gets harder. Well, I feel like it's it is.
jessI feel like adults spend a lot of time like, look at this vacation I'm going on, and look at this purse I bought, or look at these people I'm hanging out with. There's so many things that I feel like people concentrate on that are just not important.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
jessI mean, maybe that maybe that's us. Like all of those like fancy vacation like there's it doesn't impress me. What impresses me is that maybe once a week you check in with me and you say, Hey, are you okay? Like, how's school going? Yeah, how how's this specific child in my family that has been dealing with this, that, or the other? Like, or what's Lucy doing? Is she saying any new words? Like, I want I want real friendship. And I feel like the older you and I have gotten, the harder that is to find.
gregYeah. Yeah, it truly is.
jessBecause I mean, we don't care about all that stuff. Maybe that's just us. Maybe it's because we don't care. I don't know.
MichaelIt could be. Yeah. Not that we're not. Like, I care so much more about personal connection than I care about anything material. Like, I really do. Yeah.
jessSo let me just say, not that we don't care that you've had these wonderful experiences and you have all these expensive things.
MichaelYeah, I mean, don't get me wrong, if I could have them, I would have some of them.
jessHigh five to you, but that's not the part that impresses me as for you as a person. The part that impresses me is that you are a genuine person that you say who you are and you genuinely care about me and my family. Because I'm going to reciprocate those same feelings towards you.
gregYeah. Yeah. Don't I'm I'm not slamming the fact that you can go do and you get to do go.
jessYeah, I heard what I said and it kind of rolled around in my head. I'm like, I wasn't trying to be ugly. Like, great, if you can do those things, wonderful.
MichaelYeah, it's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing at all. Absolutely. High five. Well, I think it's the heart and the matter. Right. You know, and I'll say this because I I know people that their heart is to just obtain those things.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
MichaelWhether it be for the Instagram reel or you know, for whatever. And it it kind of detracts and excuse me, I'm sorry, my allergies, and it's been giving me a cough, but uh it detracts and it takes away from actual personal connection. Yeah. When the heart behind it is not motivated properly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
MichaelThere's nothing wrong with any of those things. There's nothing wrong with any materialistic things. You know what I mean? But it's the heart behind it, and when you can have like I would prefer in my own life, I would prefer personal. Connections over materialistic things. I'm not against materialistic things. I spend money on things that other people wouldn't spend money on.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
MichaelI mean, when it comes to my guitar gear, instruments, recording studio, like I spent a lot of money on things that no one else would spend money on. So someone else could look at me and say the same thing. Right. But it comes to the heart behind the issue. What are you going after? What are you prioritizing in life? Yeah.
jessYeah.
MichaelThat's really important. Well.
jessI just hate it that people have to wait till they learn hard lessons to realize those things.
MichaelI saw a post the other day, and it is mind-blowing the older I get, how true I see this is. And it there was a long article, but the the original picture said the youth is wasted on the youth. Wow. And when you think about that and you break it apart, like the older we get, you know, obviously, whether it be physically or mentally or financially, or even just carefree, responsibility-wise, what you're able to do, but you're not wrong. Like it it is part of it, is sad that we don't get to a maturity level until we're older to acknowledge those kinds of things. Like I wish I could have changed a lot of things when I was 18. That's true. That is true. Wow.
jessTalk about real talk.
MichaelSo I don't even know what's the takeaway on this. Because I don't know. Normally we have a very clear unpack section, but we've just kind of been talking.
You Are Not Alone Closing Takeaways
gregYeah. Life's hard.
jessLife is hard.
gregI don't I don't care where you're at, where you're in. I don't care how much money you have, how much money you don't have.
jessEvaluate who you are as a person because you know, there's my takeaway. You know that old saying is like the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. No. The grass is greener where you water it.
MichaelJustin Bieber.
jessReally? Wait, what?
MichaelThat's in a Justin Bieber song.
jessOh, that tells you how much I don't know.
MichaelIt's a great, but it's so true.
jessThe grass is green where you actually take care of it.
gregYeah. Yeah. Yeah. It it is what you make it.
jessMm-hmm.
gregLike you can be a victim, you can be a victor, you can you can be mad at life or you can enjoy life.
jessLife is what you make it. I agree.
gregJust, man. It's gonna have hills, it's gonna have valleys, and that's okay. Just know that. And just at the same time, know that you have someone you've said yes to, they've said yes to you. You're walking through that with them together, and that's a beautiful thing. That's a incredibly beautiful thing. And so don't take that for granted. But at the same time, just constantly, constantly evaluate what do you want and what are you after? What are you chasing?
jessYeah.
gregBecause we get so sidetracked and we forget what we're chasing. And we think it's stupid things that the world tells us we need. The newest iPhone, the newest car, the newest cloth, the newest crap. But it's like, does it really matter? No. They're just trying to make money. They just want to make money. What matters to you? And so figure that out. And bro, I'm telling you, life gets really clear and it gets really simple, really, really fast when you do that. So anything to add, Michael to take away?
MichaelI would say this, and and just kind of hearing y'all's perspective, life, what you're walking through. You're not alone. If if you're listening to this, you're not alone. You know, and and I just go back because there's one thing that that keeps popping up in my mind. Constantly y'all said, let's do this. This is us. You know, so if you're listening to this and you are in a relationship, remember you're on the same team. Yep. You're not alone. Don't forget that. Yep. You know, what is it? Abraham Lincoln, and honestly, it's scripture, a house divided cannot stand.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Right.
MichaelRemember, you are all on the same team. But also remember if you're single and listen to this, because that's me right now. Yeah. You know, I don't have that other someone to do together with right now. You're still not alone.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
MichaelThere's community, there's people to be with.
gregLike you are not created. I don't care who you were not created to be alone. Period. No. No. This is not, it's not how it's worked.
MichaelAnd I encourage you if you feel alone as you listen to this, talk to someone. Yep.
jessYeah.
MichaelReach out to your friends. Because friendships are investing.
jessNo one reach out to us.
MichaelYes. Like, and even in that regard, we are here.
jessI've had people reach out to me who have felt alone and we have developed relationships through that. So, truly, if you feel like you're alone and you don't have anybody to talk to about these things, reach out to us and we will respond to you. We will meet with you and we will have a relationship with you. You're not alone.
MichaelThere is always life to be found. No matter what circumstance you're in, there's always joy to be found. Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes it can be hard to find, sometimes it can be hard to find, but it does exist. That's true. And sometimes it just takes someone sitting next to you to help point it out. That is true. You know, and so just hearing conversations, hearing stories, what you're walking through today, that's just kind of what's been in my mind.
jessYeah.
MichaelThat's beautiful.
jessYeah. We love you.
MichaelYeah.
jessWhoever you are, we love you.
gregThank you for being a part of Baggage Claim. Thank you for listening. I can't, I literally, when I say thank you, it doesn't do it justice to say I really, really appreciate you listening to us, downloading us, sharing us. Um it it I can't say thank you enough. Like it keep doing it, keep sharing. Go to unpacktogether.com. There's um there's so much there for you. There's free stuff there. We want to prove just be a resource for you guys to to have better relationships, have better marriages. Um, that's what we're about. That's it. I'm not I'm not charging you anything. Um every uh everything we have is for free. Go check it out. Go uh now what we don't have for free is go to Patreon, become a member if you want to. You can get some some some behind the scenes kind of stuff. Here's some stuff that we talk about, real talk more. And actually you can go and get some merch and go check it out. So thank you guys for being a part of today. It's just kind of been us real talking, rolling through baggage claim as we're in episode 71, which is nuts to me. But thank you for joining us. Thank you for being a part of it. Anything to add, patrons? Go Dogs. Go Dogs.
