483: Peggy Rowe—Mother's Day with Mom… LIVE!

Summary

Podcast Summary

The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe

Episode 483: Peggy Rowe—Mother's Day with Mom… LIVE!
Release Date: May 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This special live podcast episode celebrates Mother's Day with Mike Rowe’s beloved mother, Peggy Rowe, recorded in front of the residents and staff of an Erickson Senior Living community in Baltimore. The occasion marks Peggy’s return to form after a recent health scare, and features a warm, candid, and often hilarious conversation about family, persistence, humor, aging, and Peggy's unexpected late-in-life success as a bestselling author. With stories from her time at Oak Crest, reflections on writing, and classic Rowe family banter, the episode offers an uplifting portrait of aging with wit and grace.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Mother’s Day & Peggy’s Triumph

• Peggy’s Health & Public Speaking: Mike is back in Baltimore visiting his mother after her health problems; Peggy’s invited to speak at the Erickson event, with Mike joining in for a live conversation.
  • “She’s through it all now, thank God, and was just starting to feel like her normal self again...” — Mike Rowe (00:15)
• Peggy’s Community Fame: Peggy’s humor and warmth have made her a “legend” in the senior living community.
  • “They love my mother. She’s become a legend of sorts, not just at Oak Crest, but throughout Erickson… Her book, 'Oh, No, Not the Home,' is popping up all over the place.” — Mike Rowe (01:23)

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2. Rowe Family and 'Dirty Jobs' Legacy

• Origin of Dirty Jobs: The show was inspired by Mike’s grandfather, Carl Noble, a skilled tradesman.
  • “Dirty Jobs was a tribute to her dad… He could build or fix or fabricate anything.” — Mike Rowe (08:21)
  • “My mom’s dad didn’t even make it out of the seventh grade…” — Mike Rowe (09:00)
• Peggy’s Perspective as 'Dirty Mother':
  • “For the last 25, 30 years, I’ve been known as the dirty mother. That’s quite a distinction.” — Peggy Rowe (10:02)
  • Vivid retelling of watching Mike on TV, doing the show’s messiest jobs.
  • Notable quote: “I have seen him on national television with his arm up the rear end of a cow.” — Peggy Rowe (10:32)
• Show’s Broader Impact: Illuminated often-overlooked working-class heroes and inspired a wave of TV featuring real working people.
  • “We literally Forrest Gumped our way into a new kind of TV and a new way to pay an honest tribute to regular working people.” — Mike Rowe (12:43)

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3. Peggy’s Writing Journey: From Fridge Stories to NYT Bestseller

• A Lifetime Writing: Peggy chronicles daily life for decades, never losing faith in writing even after repeated rejections.
  • “She writes every day. My earliest memories are of her with a yellow legal pad, just writing about the world around her.” — Mike Rowe (16:10)
• Breakthrough with 'The Blue Purse Story':
  • Hilarious, universally relatable story about losing her purse at Walmart, told both live and in writing.
  • “I wrote it… and when [Mike] finished reading it, he posted it on Facebook… 49 million people had watched this video [in three days].” — Mike & Peggy Rowe (24:23–24:45)
• Reluctant Celebrity: Peggy’s authentic writing style caught public and publishing world attention—eventually landing her on the bestseller list at age 78.
  • “She comes back with about 20, 22, 24 of them. I’m not in any of them—she writes two dozen short stories about the most remarkable woman in her life… her mom.” — Mike Rowe (26:46)
  • “That book, 'About My Mother,' went to number six on the New York Times list of bestsellers.” — Mike Rowe (28:08)
• Persistence and Realities of Publishing:
  • “Getting published is very difficult. If you don’t know somebody, it’s virtually impossible… If you don’t know somebody in the publishing world, these are called unsolicited manuscripts. And you may as well just put it in the trash.” — Peggy Rowe (28:32)

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4. Life at Oak Crest: Source of Material & Newfound Perspective

• Everyday Characters and Stories:
  • Peggy delights in the humor and quirks of senior living, recounting encounters both touching and uproarious.
    • The Rattlesnake Hunter: A visiting son with a colorful background becomes fodder for stories. (38:29)
    • Game Night Antics: From losing bras at the dinner table to sharp-tongued Scrabble losses.
      • “Well, I played Scrabble once. Just once. Those bitches whipped my ass.” — Anonymous Oak Crest resident, relayed by Peggy Rowe (41:19)
    • CVS Encounter:
      • “I put my hand on his shoulder, and then I realized it wasn’t dad. [He said,] ‘Well, honey, you can rub anything you want.’” — Peggy Rowe (44:25)
    • Legendary Tattoo (Weiss Market bag imprint on a resident’s backside): “And sure enough, in the mirror, it said weiss Markets… and on the other side of the great divide, it… Gas rewards.” — Peggy Rowe (49:47)
• Material Abounds:
  • “Material falls from the sky into my lap. I’m surrounded by 2,000 people, 2,000 stories…” — Peggy Rowe (37:44)

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5. Books, Titles, and More Behind-the-Scenes Stories

• Books Inspired by Real Life:
  • “Vacuuming in the Nude” – The story’s origin is about attention-getting behavior among writers, drawn from a candid confession by a neighbor.
    • “Vacuuming in the nude is really my writing history. Writers do a lot to get attention… She said, ‘I look up at the clock and realized I hadn’t even showered yet. So she said, I just jumped in the shower. Fortunately, I vacuum in the nude.’” — Peggy Rowe (51:24)
• Reframing 'The Home':
  • Tackling the stigma of going into “the home” in her book "Oh No, Not the Home" and gently poking fun at marketing concerns.
    • “The home had such a terrible connotation for so many years… I wanted to change that. It is a home. Our home. The home.” — Peggy Rowe (53:24)
  • “Did you know I’m writing another book?” (upcoming for 2026) (53:39)

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6. Health Challenges and Humor as a Coping Mechanism

• Recent Health Scare & Hospital Stay: Peggy jokes through a complex brain procedure, recounting the misunderstandings about her "groin" surgery and the regular stream of medical team visitors.
  • “Teams of doctors came in around the clock to check on my progress. And they were very concerned about my groin, of course, because I had a bleed… So finally, on day four or day five, a group of doctors came in, I knew the drill, so I pushed off the blanket and pulled up my gown, and the doctor said, ‘Hi, Mrs. Rowe, we’re the eye team. We’re here to check your eyes.’ So I covered up everything…” — Peggy Rowe (57:25)
• Power of Humor:
  • “If you can allow yourself to find the humor, even when it seems unattainable, life is so much more rewarding, and you can take almost anything. And it’s not always easy to find the humor, but it’s there.” — Peggy Rowe (58:51)

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7. Themes of Persistence, Community, Honest Storytelling

• Legacy of Work Ethic: Mike attributes his "Microworks" foundation and career path to the multi-generational work ethic of his family, especially his mother’s relentless writing practice.
  • “A woman who wrote every day for 60 years gave up on the dream but never gave up on the work… This book… is a love letter to persistence.” — Mike Rowe (37:07)
• Authenticity Over Gimmicks: The Rowe family’s appeal is grounded in candor—a willingness to tell the funny, sometimes uncomfortable truth.
  • “If you like my mom, I think the reason is because while she is sunshine and roses and fundamentally optimistic, she will tell you the truth of a thing always.” — Mike Rowe (46:46)

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8. Memorable Quotes & Audience Reactions

• “For the last 25, 30 years, I’ve been known as the dirty mother. That’s quite a distinction.” — Peggy Rowe (10:02)
• “I have seen him on national television with his arm up the rear end of a cow.” — Peggy Rowe (10:32)
• “Writers do a lot to get attention.” — Peggy Rowe (51:24)
• “Material falls from the sky into my lap.” — Peggy Rowe (37:44)
• “Those bitches whipped my ass.” — Oak Crest resident, relayed by Peggy Rowe (41:19)
• "If you can force yourself to find the humor, even when it seems unattainable, life is much more rewarding.” — Peggy Rowe (58:51)
• “I don’t wear stiletto heels anymore… I don’t have shapely calves.” — Peggy Rowe (62:27)
• “She’s the most popular recurring guest [on the podcast].” — Mike Rowe (56:48)

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Notable Segment Timestamps

• 00:03–02:21: Mike sets up live event, Peggy’s health, and Mother’s Day context.
• 06:32–10:00: Pandemic “Zoom” story and the viral mother-son Facebook interview.
• 13:45–15:04: The transformative effect Dirty Jobs had on public perception of trades & “unsung” work.
• 16:10–18:12: Peggy’s daily writing habit and the move from anonymous fridge stories to viral Facebook content.
• 20:01–24:12: The iconic Blue Purse Story.
• 28:32–30:03: Reality of publishing and Peggy’s message to fellow writers about rejection and self-publishing.
• 37:07–38:29: Mike reflects on persistence and Peggy’s Oak Crest experience as a source of infinite story material.
• 41:09–43:00: Game night hilarity and unguarded moments in senior living.
• 47:46–50:21: “Honest witness to the human condition” & the Weiss Market “tattoo.”
• 54:43–55:57: Peggy’s next book and a commitment to highlight both the positive and less-than-perfect aspects of senior living.
• 57:25–59:34: Hospital humor—Peggy’s “groin” surgery stories and the importance of humor when facing adversity.
• 62:27–62:56: Self-deprecating reflections on style, aging, and late-life career.

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Conclusion & Takeaways

This episode is a heartfelt, laughter-filled tribute to mothers, the value of humor in adversity, the often-overlooked joys of aging, and the rewards of lifelong persistence. Peggy Rowe’s stories remind listeners that there’s rich material everywhere if you’re willing to see it, and that it’s never too late to find your audience. The episode brims with quotable lines, infectious laughter, and moments where decades of family love and mutual admiration shine through, making it as much a Mother’s Day gift to listeners as it was to Peggy and Mike themselves.

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For More

• Watch the full video version on YouTube
• Check out Peggy’s books, especially "Oh No, Not the Home" and "Vacuuming in the Nude"
• Visit microworks.org for info on Mike’s skill trades foundation

(Ad sections and sponsor plugs have been omitted from this summary.)

Transcript

[Mike Rowe]

Hello, friends.

It's me, Mike Rowe. And what we have here is a very special episode of the Way I Heard It, a bonus episode just in time for Mother's Day, starring, of course, my mother. Chuck is not with us for this particular conversation because it took place back in Baltimore a couple of weeks ago. I was back there on business, and if you follow me on Facebook, you know, my mom has been dealing with some health issues here in the beginning of the year. She's through it all now, thank God, and was just starting to feel like her normal self again, when this guy, Tom, who runs marketing over at Erickson Senior Living, invited her to speak at their annual event, which they were having in Baltimore. You know, administrators come from all over from these different facilities. And he invited my mom to speak to the group, and then he heard I was in town, and he said, hey, you know, if you want to join your mom, that'd be fun. And I said, well, if you record it so I can use it on my podcast, that'd be great. And he said, sure. The truth is, I'd have done it anyway, but they had cameras, so they set them up and they recorded the whole thing. And I'm so glad they did, because it's a very funny conversation. I'm gonna post the whole thing on YouTube as well. But we also have the podcast for you today. Because Mother's Day is right around the corner. And because my mom. My mom's a delight.

You know, this is one of the

best crowds I've been in front of in years. And for a while there, I. You know, I just kind of thought it was me. Cause I'm, you know, sort of famous and whatnot. But it's not. It's my mother. They love my mother. She's become a legend of sorts, not just at Oak Crest, but throughout Erickson, and I think in senior living communities all over the place. Her book, oh, no, not the Home, is Popping up all over the place in these communities, which I just. Which I love to see.

Anyway, I thought it would be a

fun Mother's Day event of sorts. Cause it felt like an event. I've been wanting to do a live podcast since the first episode. How appropriate that I finally got a shot to do it with me mother. She is her normal, delightful self. And I will prove that to you on this, our bonus Mother's Day episode, starring the one and only Peggy Rowe, right after this.

Dumb Peggy Rowe is an American giant.

And I'm not just saying that because it's Mother's Day. And she's listening to this. I'm saying it because Peggy Rowe quit her teaching career and then delayed her writing career to raise three boys. And those boys were a handful. Trust me, I was there. And today I am delighted to be here, sharing the stage with her and sharing her with all of you. And I so appreciate my friends at American Giant for sponsoring this conversation. Buying a piece of clothing from American Giant guarantees you more than a quality garment that's built to last and made with care. It guarantees that you'll be supporting that rarest of companies, a textile company that defied the odds and found a way to make great clothes in this country. It wasn't easy, but they did it. They looked for locally grown cotton, and they built their factories in towns across the nation where they could hire hardworking locals who cared about making a quality product. That was 16 years ago. Ever since, they've been going about the business of gently reminding people that when you buy a piece of clothing from American Giant, you're not just buying a sweatshirt or a T shirt or another pair of jeans. You're investing in a local supply chain. You're supporting communities from the Carolinas to California. And you're getting a piece of clothing that won't just survive the wash. It'll get better with age. Check out the high quality staples. Hoodies, tees, denim built to be worn year after [e-mail] Mike. It's quality you can feel and a true American success story that you can be proud to Support. Use code MIKE. Get 20% off your order at american-giant.com Mike.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

American Giant. American made. American Giant, American made. A cup of coffee with my. With my mom.

[Mike Rowe]

Thank you, everybody for inviting us here. Thank you, mom, for agreeing. For agreeing to see me. It's not exactly a. It's not exactly a secret anymore, but the only time I get to catch up with my mom these days is if I by booker for an event or interviewer for a podcast or something. This morning you drove down, you met me. We sat in a studio. She was interviewed for a national program. Took two hours, put her in a black car, whisked her back down here. Then we came over here for this, which is delightful. So how's it going? What's it like being Peggy Rowe?

[Peggy Rowe]

It's very tiring. Thank you. You people are so lucky. I hope you realize how lucky you are. You get to work with the elderly every day. You get to listen to whining and complaining. But then you look forward to this event. Every year is It. Yearly.

[Interviewer/Host]

Every other year.

[Peggy Rowe]

Every other year.

[Mike Rowe]

It's called Building Anticipation, but it's something

[Peggy Rowe]

to look forward to. And then you look up at the podium and you see an old lady. I'm sorry if you're disappointed.

[Mike Rowe]

I was just. I was just saying to Tom backstage, you know, there are not a ton of silver linings in the whole Covid debacle, but early on, suddenly, you know, my mom and dad were at Oak Crest, and I couldn't come see them, and I. And I. And I missed them, and of course I was worried. And then there was this new thing called called Zoom that I didn't quite understand, but felt like a lifeline. And I sent you a link, and we had a cup of coffee, my mom and I. We had a ketchup, and 45 minutes in, I was laughing so hard, I had tears coming down my face. I don't know if you enjoyed it or not, but you. You stayed on the call the whole time, which I took as.

[Peggy Rowe]

And I filed my nails.

[Mike Rowe]

Piling your nails? Unbelievable. Anyway, I hit the record button on that call, and I posted our conversation on my Facebook page, which, for reasons I still don't understand, has like, 9 million people following it. And they fell in love with you. And that conversation, I think, reminded a lot of people, you know, of their sons and their moms or daughters and dads and this hunger to connect, you know, and it was such a simple thing to do. But the minute the feedback came in from that, I knew I'd find a way to exploit you for the rest of your life.

[Peggy Rowe]

Listen, the exploitation is mutual, I assure. Also, besides being lucky, all of you, I have to tell you that the event organizers, I guess that would be Tom mostly, are really gutsy, because old people can be a crapshoot, as you well know. We're forgetful. We could have brain fog. I could be incontinent. Honestly, I'm prepared.

[Mike Rowe]

In the first season of Dirty Jobs, any of you guys see Dirty Jobs? Just out of curiosity. Not looking for cheap applause. It's just nice. Who. Who hasn't seen Dirty Jobs? I'm just curious, just to get a sense. Not you. Everybody in this room has seen it. Who's this? What's his name? Who?

[Peggy Rowe]

Homeset.

[Mike Rowe]

Homeset.

Get out.

Never seen Dirty Jobs. Homes are kidding me. Quick sidebar. Dirty Jobs was a tribute to her dad. Her dad was named Carl Noble, and he was my grandfather. He lived next door. The idea with Dirty Jobs Homsa was that I would assume the identity of a. Of an apprentice And I would work in a completely unscripted way with regular men and women who did the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us. My mom's dad didn't even make it out of the seventh grade.

[Peggy Rowe]

He went 100 days into the seventh grade. That was the law back then. You couldn't quit until you'd been 100 days in the seventh grade.

[Mike Rowe]

And then he was out and he started working.

[Peggy Rowe]

Oh, yeah. Well, he'd been working part time.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, the thing was, by the time he was, I don't know, 30, 35, he was an electrical contractor. How to describe Pop? He could build or fix or fabricate anything. He could take your watch apart, Tom, put it back together blindfolded, or a combustion engine or whatever it was. Right. And so the idea for the show was to just shine a light on people who had this skill, this chip, you know, and so that's really how all this happened. I was trying to pay an honest tribute to her dad, and things got, you know, delightfully out of. Out of control.

[Peggy Rowe]

Tell me about it.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah.

[Peggy Rowe]

For the last 25, 30 years, I've been known as the dirty mother. That's quite a distinction. I had the privilege. My husband and I had the privilege of turning our television on and seeing our oldest son crawling through sewers with roaches and rats the size of Yorkshire terriers scampering over his body. I kid you not. If you. If you've seen the show, then you know, I'm not kidding. I have seen him on national television with his arm up the rear end of a cow.

[Mike Rowe]

That cow still calls me, by the way,

[Peggy Rowe]

a horse. Bull. Oh, yeah, what else?

[Mike Rowe]

We violated every barnyard animal known to man. Hamza. Because artificial insemination. Right. The other AI raided the roof, and people just couldn't get enough of it. It was crazy. But getting back to your incontinence for just a moment. In the first season of that show, I wound up on the COVID of TV Guide magazine. And the caption was, discoveries. Mike Rowe brings you feces from every species. And my mom is like, we are so very proud of you.

[Peggy Rowe]

Bless Stephen. And my mother. My mother, who was a prim and proper person, she had expectations of her grandchildren. She would call me during the first commercial of those shows, and she would say, peggy, does Michael realize that the President could be watching, the Queen could be watching? He should really think, think ahead of time about the image he wants to portray on national television.

[Mike Rowe]

Well, I did.

I've given a lot of thought, and we did 350 of those shows. Look, I don't want the credit or the blame for any of this, but Dirty Jobs hums, if you're keeping track, led to 39 other shows. I mean, from Deadliest Catch to Swamp People to, I mean, Big Shrimp and every work related thing. It completely opened up a world that the country just didn't think about. And TV had certainly never, never thought about the idea of becoming a guest instead of a host, which is what I tried to do on that show and make people like your dad, Whoever it was we were profiling, even a turkey inseminator, it didn't matter. They were the heroes of the show. And that just struck a chord and I knew it. Tom, we were talking earlier, it was like, look, early on in those days, I wasn't hearing from people who said, oh, Mike, you're charming and funny, or that show is interesting and smart. The feedback from the beginning and to your mother's horror, was always, you think that's dirty? Wait till you see what my brother does. My cousin, my uncle, my mom, my sister. And, you know, we stumbled. We literally Forrest Gumped our way into a new kind of TV and a new way to pay an honest tribute to regular working people. Oh, Michael. Yes.

[Peggy Rowe]

It gave us.

[Mike Rowe]

Don't ever interrupt me, by the way, when I'm like, this close to landing the plane.

[Peggy Rowe]

It gave the public and appreciation for those people who got up every morning and did those jobs.

[Mike Rowe]

Sure.

[Peggy Rowe]

Really, you shone a spotlight on those people. I can remember we lived in the condominium at that time, and we faced the front, which gave us a wonderful view of the trash corral and the men who came and collected our trash two or three times a week. And after watching your show, I did even I began really appreciating the people who did those jobs. They got up every morning. They made my life easier. I remember one day, dad and I were taking a walk around the condo complex. There was a tape around a sewer cover. It was off of the sewer and it was open. And we looked inside and there were men in there, you know, doing a job that we sure wouldn't have wanted to do.

[Mike Rowe]

Sure.

[Peggy Rowe]

I went over and looked at them, and dad went to the edge and he said hi, and he thanked them for what they were doing. They looked at us like we were crazy.

[Mike Rowe]

And I said, two things can be true at the same time. And my dad, it should be noted, is one of, I think, one of the great conversationalists of the modern. And he's also one of the curious Most curious people you'd ever care to know. He'll talk to people in manholes. He'll talk to people in elevators. He'll wait till the door shuts, and then he'll turn his back to the door and he'll have questions for you. And you will be in the elevator with my dad. And there will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. And my mom will likely be there as well, doing something kind of extraordinary, which is chronicling the whole thing. What my dad does is whatever he feels like doing. What my dad does is create whatever conversation he can, whether he's at Oak Crest or all his life. And what my mom does is write about it.

She writes every day.

Do you mind if I talk about you for a moment? Like you're not here?

[Peggy Rowe]

Let me think about it. Okay.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah. So my mother wrote every day for 60 years. 60 years. My earliest memories are of her with a yellow legal pad, just writing about the world around her. She specialized in unauthorized biographies. Cop on a horseback. Peggy Rowe walks over. What's your name? What's your horse's name? She's a very horsey person, right? And she writes it all down, and she'll get a story, and then she would, you know, literally type the thing up as if a publisher had paid her to interview this cop that she'll never see again. And she put the story on the refrigerator with a magnet. And my old man would take the story down the next day and he'd read it to me and my brothers. He'd take it to church and he'd read it to those poor people trapped in the sanctuary. And then he. You know, if you're trapped in an elevator, it's. Have you heard the latest from Peggy Rowe? Could be a limerick, could be a haiku, could be an unauthorized biography. I still remember it.

The Bob's Big Boy after church up

on Bel Air Road. Just him just sitting next to total strangers in a booth, you know. Want to hear something really funny? It's something my mom had written. So this is. This is what I remember you. I never thought of you as a writer, even though that's the only thing I ever saw you do. And then I do this show, inspired and dedicated to her dad. And then years later, I become marginally famous and my mom is still writing every day. But she'd given up on her dream of becoming a best selling author. But she never gave up on the work. She never stopped writing. This woman. And then because I had a toe in the door, I was able to well, you want to tell them about the big blue purse or should I? Dum. Lots of comments over there on the

Facebooks from people who have seen my mother starring in the latest PureTalk commercial. Once again, she has completely upstaged me. A very funny ad that simply had to be made.

Why? Because late last year, I mentioned in

another radio commercial for Pure Talk that my own mother had switched to Pure Talk for unlimited talk, text and data

for just $34.99 a month, less than

half of what she'd been paying Verizon.

Well, we live in skeptical times, and

some people expressed doubt that my mother had really made this switch, but of course she did. So I had to put her in

a TV commercial to prove it, which she does brilliantly.

It's posted over on my Facebook page and it's very funny. Check it out. More importantly, know this, because my mom is now on the TV talking about Pure Talk and the fact that she really did switch. You don't have to take my word for it anymore when I tell you that you can save a fortune with Pure Talk's offer for unlimited talk text and data on a blazing fast network

for just $34.99 a month.

You can now take the word of my own mother, America's grandmother, a woman who is physically incapable of telling a fiber. So do what mom did. Go to PureTalk.comro for unlimited high speed data for just $34.99 a month. You can switch in as little as 10 minutes with their US customer service team at PureTalk.comro to switch to my mom's wireless company and mine and lots of other folks who appreciate a great deal from an American wireless company loved by mothers and sons everywhere.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Pure Talk your talk.

[Peggy Rowe]

Well, I'll start.

[Mike Rowe]

Okay, you start.

[Peggy Rowe]

You'll interrupt me.

[Mike Rowe]

Carry on.

[Peggy Rowe]

I went shopping at Walmart one day. Well, this was about 10 years ago, and something horrible happened. I got in the car, I put my groceries in the car, got in the car, went home, felt on the seat beside me for my purse, and it wasn't there. I had left my blue purse hanging on the cart in the Walmart parking lot. I had pushed the cart into the corral and gone home. I was sick and I went inside and told my husband and he began canceling credit cards. Right away we called Walmart and they said, no, they didn't have my purse. And my husband said, oh, we're going back there right away. Maybe somebody just took your wallet and put your purse in a trash can. We're going to go back and look for your purse. So we did. I went into the store to see if maybe Lost and Found had gotten my purse. In the meantime, dad was going from trash can to trash can, dialing my number in hopes that my cell phone was in there.

[Mike Rowe]

My dad's half deaf. He can't hear anything, including the ringing of a phone. So the whole thing is just a Greek tragedy. Please continue.

[Peggy Rowe]

Go ahead, you can go on.

[Mike Rowe]

This story goes on and on and on, and it gets weirder and funnier. And then ultimately it concludes, I got

[Peggy Rowe]

home, I'm going to skip a lot because he'll pick it up. And I called the children because what mother doesn't like to hear her children sympathize with her that she's lost her purse? So I called son number three and son number two, I call him number one because he's the eldest. I called him and he said, I don't want to hear it. Don't tell me. Sit down and write it and send it to me. I did that. I wrote it. It was what, maybe a couple thousand words, you think?

[Mike Rowe]

Not even 1200, maybe. And by the way, there's kind of a happy ending. They find the purse. A woman. What was her name?

[Peggy Rowe]

Beverly.

[Mike Rowe]

Beverly finds the purse. Dad chats her up. Obviously, my dad and Beverly now are spending a lot of time together.

[Peggy Rowe]

I hope not. She passed away three years ago.

[Mike Rowe]

Oh, is she dead now? That's too bad. Like I said, my dad will to anybody.

[Peggy Rowe]

The thing is, she saw my purse hanging on a shopping cart and she looked around and there was nobody around, so she picked it up. Well, I got to know her later and she described her emotions to me. She said, oh, I was so afraid somebody was going to think I was stealing that purse. She said, so I picked up your purse, I carried it like this into Walmart, and I went to the Lost and found and I told them I'd found their purse. So when I went in to look at Lost and Found, they said, well, our manager is in the back of the store. We don't have a purse, but you can go and check with our manager. And when I got back there, dad, your father was still.

[Mike Rowe]

I know who he is.

[Peggy Rowe]

You think you know who he is. So John was still going from trash can to trash can, dialing my number and plunging his head into the trash can to listen for my ringtone. And sure enough, I heard my ringtone. It was coming from where the manager was. There was a shelf next to him, and there was my purse Looking out from that shelf, like ET Looking out from the closet. And I took my phone out, and it was dad. And he said, come out to the parking lot. There's a woman here who would like to meet you. And I know you want to thank her for turning in your purse.

[Mike Rowe]

Beverly.

[Peggy Rowe]

But that's the blue purse story. Why did we get started on that?

[Mike Rowe]

I'll tell you why. Because number one said, write it down. And she did.

[Peggy Rowe]

Oh, I did.

[Mike Rowe]

And she sent me this email, right? And it's the story you've heard, except it's written and it's told like Irma Bombeck meets Betty White, told in a. In a personal letter to me. And I'm halfway through this thing, and I am laughing, man. It's just so funny. And it's relatable. And whether, guys, you've lost your wallet or, ladies, you've lost your purse, we've all been there. And it just was this roller coaster of relatable humanity. But it was funny. And when I finished reading it, I took this phone and I set it up, and I read it again at my kitchen table. And then I was off to film something, and I posted it on my Facebook page. I was gone for three days. When I came home, 49 million people had watched this video. 49 million people. And at this point, you're maybe, forgive me, 78 years old, I would guess.

[Peggy Rowe]

Well, 10 years ago.

[Mike Rowe]

I can do the math.

Yeah. So she's still writing every day. She's still telling her stories every day. But now she actually shared one that I could read aloud among the 49 million people who read it those first three days. You guys should Google it later. It's funny. Peggy Rowe, big blue person. I think it's up to 80 million.

[Peggy Rowe]

Old Blue.

[Mike Rowe]

Old blue, it's called. Yeah, because it matters. But one of the people who called

was the publishers, started calling publishers.

Remember her dream? Bestselling author? That's not going to happen. But the writing is still happening. And the publisher's like, hey, that's a funny story. Can she write, you know, a couple dozen more like that? I'm like, yeah, probably so. And one of them said, look, if you can make Mike put him in your stories, because we need a hook. We're publishers, right? We need an angle. So if your marginally famous son is in these stories, then we'll publish a book of short stories about this kind of thing. And I. And I. And I lay this all out in front of my mother, and she goes, oh, that's fantastic. And You. You have to be in all of the stories. It's an angle, mom. It's just an angle. Just give them what they want.

She goes, oh, okay, okay.

You know, I have two other sons. Yeah, yeah. Number two and number three. Okay. Are they famous, right? Just play ball, for crying out loud. My mother goes away for a couple of months and starts writing stories. She comes back with about 20, 22, 24 of them. I'm not in any of them. Maybe a mention in one or two. She writes two dozen short stories about the most remarkable woman in her life, which happens to be my grandmother, the aforementioned Thelma Noble. Nobody asked her to do this. This is just what she felt like doing. So she sits down and she writes what's in her heart. She writes a love letter, a tribute to her mom.

And I send it to the publishers

and they're like, who the hell's Philomon Noble? There's nothing we can do with this. It's like my partner and I, Mary, we were like, you know what? Actually, it was Mary's idea. She said, let's just print 10,000 copies and see what happens. We'll sell them ourselves. And we did.

And they sold out in three days.

Publisher called back and said, you didn't tell her she could write. That book called about my mother went to what, number six number.

[Peggy Rowe]

It did very well.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah. Went to number six on the New York Times list of bestsellers.

[Peggy Rowe]

Well, thanks to Mike.

[Mike Rowe]

Oh, please. I didn't write the damn thing.

[Peggy Rowe]

But you have a wide reach. You know the sad thing about publishing?

[Mike Rowe]

Way to bring it down, Mom.

[Peggy Rowe]

Do we have any would be writers here? Or any active writers? I see one hand, two, three. I bet there are a lot of closeted writers here. You will understand that getting published is very difficult. If you don't know somebody, it's virtually impossible. For years I wrote. I used a typewriter and I used white paper and black print, double spaced, wide margins. Just the way publishers. I did everything I was supposed to do. I followed all the rules, sent my manuscript off through the mail, because this was years ago. Day after day, I waited. I walked down to the mailbox, which is like way far down the road. With hope in my heart, expectations, dreams of maybe a publisher reading my work. And I would come back home again in tears. Nothing. Nothing. And then finally I would get the rejection notice. And then I realized, years later, I realized they weren't even reading my work. If you don't know somebody in the publishing world, these are called unsolicited manuscripts. And you may as well just put it in the trash. Oh, I hope I'm not stepping on your dreams.

[Mike Rowe]

Peggy Rowe, queen of optimism, here to smash your hopes into the ground.

[Peggy Rowe]

I'm sorry, I don't mean to do that. You have options nowadays that I didn't have. The self publishing world is. Is quite popular and a lot of good writing happens, you know, that is self published. But back then I didn't have that option.

[Mike Rowe]

Two years later, she writes a book called about yout Father and Other Celebrities I have known. A collection of letters she had written to me over the years that goes to number four. Two times bestseller. Now she's 82. They'll clap for anything.

[Peggy Rowe]

Well, the good news is you didn't help me with this one, did you?

[Mike Rowe]

You know what I did do, though? I wrote that damn forward again. Two forwards now. I wrote the four. I wrote two forwards for the first book because it was a big story. Wrote the forward for the second book. This thing goes way up the charts and now the publisher is slobbering all over the place me. Does she have a third one in her. A third one? Can she get 3? 3 books. Two years later she writes Vacuuming in the Nude and Other Ways to Get Attention. Goes to number one. I tell you all this because today my mom is older than she's ever been. A year and a half ago, she wrote her fourth book about life at Oak Crest. And to my mind, it's her best work. It certainly has the best forward. It's proof of something that I've always known about her and something she's always kind of said quietly and apologies if you don't want me to say it out loud, but go ahead. All right. You know, she says the world is full of people.

They're everywhere.

But my mom, she loves people, but she doesn't really see people. She sees material everywhere, whether it's that cop on a horseback or. Or my own dad or her neighbor across the hall at Oak Crest. This book, it's literally called You've got a Copy out Here. I think you were you sprung for 500 books, Tom. I can't believe it. This. This thing is a love letter. I'm not going to sell it because you already have one, but it's a. It's a love letter to the neighbors you find yourself surrounded by. And it's an homage, I think, to the fragility and the vulnerability and the humor and the honesty that comes with this much experience in life. And more than anything, for me, it's a Love letter to persistence. Today I run a foundation. It's called Microworks Kuman, or whatever your name is, you would never have heard of it, I'm sure, of anyone.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Shameless plug.

[Mike Rowe]

Long before she was Peggy Rowe, my mom was Peggy Noble, daughter of Carl and Thelma Noble. It was her father, Carl, who inspired me to pitch a show called Dirty Jobs to the Discovery Channel and later start a foundation that honored the kind of work Carl Noble did for a living. Trade work, skilled labor. That foundation is called microworks. And today I'm proud to tell you that we've helped thousands of people get the training they need to begin a career in the skilled trades. In fact, we'd love to help you. You can apply for a work ethics scholarship right [e-mail] we've set aside $10 million for this year's applicants, thanks to a number of very effective fundraisers, including the one with my grandfather's name on the label. I refer, of course, to Nobel Tennessee Whiskey K N O B E L, which is now available in a variety of delicious mash bills, all of which you can [e-mail] in fact, if you spend 100 bucks and use code CARL C A R L, you'll get one tube of orange bitter infused sugar cubes for free. That's Code Carl with a C to get nine sugar cubes ingeniously engineered to make nine perfect old fashions every time. It's my favorite way to support Microworks and my favorite whiskey to sip responsibly. After a long day of interviewing people on this podcast, pick up a [e-mail] k n o b e l spirits.com

[Sponsor/Announcer]

Soon May the nobleman come to bring a bottle for everyone. One day, when the waiting is done, we'll take a drink and go.

[Mike Rowe]

But it evolved out of Dirty Jobs organically. And today we award Work Ethic scholarships to men and women who want to pursue a career in the skilled trades. Right. We've done 3,700 of these things and awarded close to $20 million in these scholarships. Don't clap for that. I'm just saying. I'm the luckiest guy in the room to have a mom like this and to have the ability to have had a hit show and see it morph into something that feels useful to me and personal and important. And in the course of promoting my scholarship fund and my foundation, I tell stories of the men who I've met, mostly men that we featured on Dirty Jobs, who did all this work. And I talk about my granddad all the time, and I talk about my dad all the time. Who really worked as your father's apprentice growing up. I mean, those two together, I can't tell you the times they'd wake up clean and they'd go out into the world and they'd come home dirty, and somehow something got fixed along the way. I was so enamored of it. And so I tell these stories everywhere, all across the country, every week and right in front of me the whole time regarding work ethic is the actual epitome of it. A woman who wrote every day for 60 years gave up on the dream, but never gave up on the work. And when I read through this book and when I think about your life at the home and the grace with which you and dad have both navigated the slings and arrows of outrageous aging,

it's not a bad title.

Welcome to it. It's wonderful. And I think really the stars of this. Of this book are the people. I haven't said this out loud before, but you write about the people you meet at Oak Crest. The way I tried to work with the people on dirty jobs with humor and respect and honesty. And I'm so damn proud of you. Mom, I can barely stand.

[Peggy Rowe]

Oh, thanks, son. You know, Mike, moving into Oak Crest was such a boon to my career. I can't tell you what it's like. Material falls from the sky into my lap. I'm surrounded. I'm surrounded by 2,000 people, 2,000 stories. They stopped me in the hall to tell me their stories. A couple of weeks ago, I met a guy in his 60s. He was old enough to live at Oak Crest, but he was there visiting his father. I'd seen him in the restaurants before, and I thought he looked like such an interesting character. And maybe you will get the picture. He had 26 rings around his ears. He had a turban on his head. Not a turban, but a bandana.

[Mike Rowe]

There is a difference.

[Peggy Rowe]

Yes. He had a bandana wrapped around his head. He had a grou goatee and long sideburns, which he kept flicking out like this. And I thought, there's a story. So one day I saw him walking toward me in the hallway, and I said, hi. You don't know me, but I'm Peggy Rowe and I'm a writer. And I think you look like a person with a story. Well, he seemed kind of flattered and kind of shy, and I said, I see you here visiting. Is that your dad? He said, oh, yeah, I visit my dad. I visit my father quite a lot because he has a lot of health issues. And he said, but really, I'm a rattlesnake hunter. This man who visits Oak Crest regularly is a rattlesnake hunter. I kid you not. He travels the world looking for rattlesnakes. He has seen tens of thousands of rattlesnakes. He writes about his experiences. He takes pictures, he takes notes. He sells his information to journals. He has a college degree. He's done master's work. He's out there, but to look at him, you think his motorcycle's probably parked on the Loop. And he looks like such a character. He met with me and talked with me a couple of times. Wonderful son. Really interesting character. Michael, I can't tell you the best stories. They just come to me. All you have to do is be open to humor. It is everywhere. A couple of weeks ago, we had dinner, my usual Friday night group. And there are six or seven of us, and somebody couldn't come. So somebody said, oh, I have a friend who will come. Sweet little white haired lady.

[Mike Rowe]

Quick sidebar. It's very difficult if you're me, even to keep track. It doesn't matter when I call my mom. I live in Northern California. Anytime between 8 in the morning and 8 at night, she's in a restaurant, right? Doesn't matter when she's in there and she's with six to eight unnamed people. Most of them have white hair. Which restaurant? I don't know. Could be the Acorn, could be the Oak room, could be McHenry's. Maybe it's that other cafeteria type joint.

[Peggy Rowe]

Lakeside.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah, it could be Lakeside. Who knows? Just saying. If you find yourself struggling to visualize or keep track, you're not alone.

[Peggy Rowe]

So this sweet little lady with the white hair has a bit of a hearing issue, which I live with 24, 7. My husband has an 85 to 90% hearing deficit, but we manage. When she speaks, she projects. So I said, well, how are you finding life at Oak Crest? Are you finding things to do? She said, well, I like to play games. I said, oh, have you played any games since you've been here? She said, well, I played Scrabble once. Just once. Those bitches whip my ass. It's the truth. I. I could tell you her name, but I won't because.

[Mike Rowe]

Are you freaking kidding me? Listen, they're like, Tom had two rules, right? Don't disparage anybody and try not to use bad language.

[Peggy Rowe]

I didn't say her name yet, but the people at the nearby tables, I Mean, their heads were, like, swiveling off, turning around to look. Did she really say that? Well, I loved it because it's out of the ordinary, you know, most Little materials.

[Mike Rowe]

Chapter five. Yeah, bitches kicked my ass.

[Peggy Rowe]

Yeah, yeah. It's the truth. And all those other people at the table will agree. And then just night before last, I was walking through the lobby, and dad was playing shuffleboard, and there was a game going on. And the ladies called me over, and they said, we want to learn Vertical Rummy Cube. And I know you play it. Will you teach us Vertical Rummy Cube? And I said, okay. So I sat down, proceeded to teach them Vertical Rummy Cube. And one of the little old ladies said, oh, God, I can't stand this. My bra is so uncomfortable. And darn if she didn't just open up everything, take off her bra, pull down the sleeve, and she shoved it in her tote bag. And the other ladies. The other ladies didn't pay any attention to her. But I did.

[Mike Rowe]

I'll spoil the books back if you want. Mom.

[Peggy Rowe]

I'm not sure of her name. I don't usually play games with her, but you just never know what's going to happen at Oak Crest. Oh, my gosh. And the day down at the pharmacy was so funny. I went with your dad.

[Mike Rowe]

I know him.

[Peggy Rowe]

We were just looking around. I saw something, and I said, oh, John, you know, I put my hand on his shoulder, and then I look, and I realized it wasn't dad. It was another man. And I said, oh, I'm so sorry. I was about to rub your arm. And he said, well, honey, you can rub anything you want. This was cvs.

[Mike Rowe]

This is a cvs, right?

[Peggy Rowe]

CVS Pharmacy.

[Mike Rowe]

Good, good.

[Peggy Rowe]

And then the band put his hands on my shoulder. Is it time to stop talking?

[Mike Rowe]

Tom's like,

[Peggy Rowe]

is that what that means? He said, keep going, keep going. So the man put one hand on each of my shoulders, and he turned me around. He said, you know, CVS is a notorious pickup spot. Turn me toward a line in front of a sign that said, pick up. It really. It really did happen.

[Mike Rowe]

Everything in the book really did happen. That's the thing about my mom. She just. I mean, she has a wonderful imagination and she's a terrific writer, but she just refuses to make stuff up. She is. I mean, I remember the first time you and I talked, Tom, is years ago. And I was. I was thinking, you know, hey, I got this podcast. These advertisers. Oak Crest would be an amazing sponsor, you know, and we started to talk About. Think about how that might work. And I. I don't know if this occurred to you or not. It certainly occurred to me. But it's like, you know, my mom came and write about anything she wants. She's like an embedded reporter behind the walls of Oak Crest. And if you're an executive of a retirement home and you suddenly realize, oh, you got this woman living here and she's got a million fans and she writes best selling books and, man, I hope she liked dinner, you know,

[Interviewer/Host]

I

[Mike Rowe]

hope she's happy with everything, Honestly. I know we gotta land the plane. You have some questions you want to share? But I just want to, you know, say that if you like my mom, I think the reason is because while she is sunshine and roses and fundamentally optimistic, she will tell you the truth of a thing always, you know?

[Peggy Rowe]

Oh, yeah, I told him about the mouse.

[Mike Rowe]

Okay?

[Peggy Rowe]

I told him about the mouse. And my husband's always telling them about the deep sink in the kitchen. Gives him a backache and a neck ache.

[Mike Rowe]

Sorry, you got a deep sink problem, Tom.

[Peggy Rowe]

Sorry.

[Mike Rowe]

Deep sink.

[Peggy Rowe]

You're going to have to work on that.

[Mike Rowe]

But in the scheme of things, you know, what. What makes people credible? What. What makes them believable? What makes them an honest witness to the. You know, to the human condition, and it's.

[Peggy Rowe]

Can I tell one more story?

[Mike Rowe]

I was hoping you would. Go ahead.

[Peggy Rowe]

One day I was down in the locker room. I had done my morning swim, and I was sitting there drying off, and a woman walked from the. They have three private showers. And she came out of the shower and walked past me, and she had a towel covering her face, front. And she walked over to the locker, and when she faced her locker, I could see her back part, and she had a tattoo on her bottom. Well, I mean, we old people were famous for moles and veins and age spots, but not tattoos. And so, of course, the writer in me was curious, and I said to her, tell me about your tattoo. She looked at me and she said, what tattoo? I said, on your rear end there, you have a tattoo. And she walked over to the sinks, which have big mirrors behind them, and she turned around and she laughed. So I got up and I walked over and I looked in the mirror, and she said, well, I spread a grocery bag on the seat in the shower, And I sat down, sat down and dried my legs and my feet. And the ink must have come off on my bottom. And sure enough, in the mirror, it said weiss Markets. And on the other side of the great divide, it. Gas rewards. Well, the truth is, I couldn't really read Gas Rewards, but I've seen enough rice grocery bags to know that it said Gas. It was just. It was all red, white and blue. And really, I wondered if maybe I should salute when she walked. So, you know, funny thing. I've never seen that woman since. Unless I just don't recognize her face.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah, she's a checker over at White's Markets now. I'm pretty sure. Oh my God, Tom, you better save us from this cuz I don't know where we're going.

[Interviewer/Host]

I mean, we had 10 minutes for questions.

[Mike Rowe]

We got 10 minutes for questions. Good. Hey, that's my mom, everybody. Peggy.

[Peggy Rowe]

Ro.

[Interviewer/Host]

You have proven to me ever since I got to know you that humor is the best way to do life. And you do it beautifully. Beautifully every single day. So.

[Mike Rowe]

So the wisdom come in?

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah, the wisdom is we're still waiting on that. But no, it's. It's. It's wonderful. But your books, the titles. Vacuuming in the Nude and. Oh, no, not the Home. I gotta ask you, what's the inspiration for your books? Go ahead and tell them. Vacuum in the Nude. Let's start with that one, because that's pretty provocative.

[Peggy Rowe]

You know, vacuuming in the Nude is really my writing history. My whole writing story, from the first thing I wrote to the most recent. Writers do a lot to get attention. You have to. To get published, you have to do a lot for attention. Well, I tell a story further on in the book about a friend who was late to lunch one day and she shared with us that she had been vacuuming and time got away from her. She said, oh, I looked up at the clock and I realized I hadn't even showered yet. So she said, I just jumped in the shower. Fortunately, I vacuum in the nude. She said. And I said, really? And I said, but you were home alone. She said, no, no, Jack was right on the sofa there, actually. He joined me in the shower afterwards. Now, this was maybe 10 years ago, before my books came out. I doubt if they still do that. Well, he passed away, so.

[Interviewer/Host]

But did Mike tell you to name the book?

[Peggy Rowe]

So I'm trying to think of the name of a good name for this book. An attention Getter. But something that's honest. That's part of the book. And so Mike was reading that story and he said, oh, well, here you go. There you are. That's it. That's your title. Vacuuming in the News.

[Mike Rowe]

It was either that or Gas and Rewards.

[Interviewer/Host]

I'm not sure which one I'M picking there. But then, you know, when you and I first started talking in her book. Oh, no, not the Home, you know, being a sales and marketing guy, I was like, gosh, I don't feel great about calling it the home. You know what I'm saying? I was like. And you latched right onto it. So in the foreword to the book, you might mention the home 400 times just to dig at me.

[Peggy Rowe]

Listen, the home had such a terrible connotation for so many years, and it was rightly deserved in most respects. I wanted to change that. It is a home. Our home. The home. Did you know I'm writing another book?

[Interviewer/Host]

I do know that. I do know that. That's the shameless plug you were telling me about. Right?

[Mike Rowe]

It's called Home, Home, Home Again, Home.

[Peggy Rowe]

And early on in the book, I tell about a man. We were walking down the hall one day, John and I, and a man came running out from the acorn. He had been eating lunch. He said, are you Peggy Rowe? And I said, yes, I am, Gus. I looked at his name tag. He said, we just moved in a few days ago. He said, my wife said, I think that's Mrs. Rowe walking. He said, we're here because of your book. I said, oh, wow, that's nice to hear. And so I walked in and I met his wife, and I said, I hope you'll be as happy here as we are. And she said, well, if I ever recover from the move, I hope we'll be happy. It's only been three days. I'm too tired to stand up and greet you. And then she said, tell me something. My husband thinks you work for Erickson.

[Mike Rowe]

Do you?

[Peggy Rowe]

Well, it's not the first time I've heard that, but I assured her that I get my monthly bill.

[Interviewer/Host]

She's great. She's so good.

[Peggy Rowe]

Which increases year after year. So she was convinced. But, you know, it made me think. So in this next book, I have a whole chapter of I'm Searching for the Downside. I'm searching for bad things. I'm listening for complaints. I'm doing a whole chapter of let's Be honest, Nothing is Perfect. Oak Crest can't be perfect. And so I'm trying to gather things that are less than perfect about our facility. And I have to tell you, it's pretty difficult. There are things there that could improve.

[Mike Rowe]

Of course, this whole sink situation.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah, I know.

[Mike Rowe]

It's very deep.

[Peggy Rowe]

And the occasional mouse.

[Interviewer/Host]

Well, the back issue. Come on.

[Mike Rowe]

Yeah.

[Interviewer/Host]

So this will be book number five for you.

[Peggy Rowe]

It will Be. It doesn't have a title yet, but I'm. It will be out in 2026. I lost a couple of months recently. I had some illness, which I was unused to and which has given me such empathy for the people around me, people who are struggling with health issues. I've always been a compassionate person, but, you know, when you're walking in their shoes and I was quite ill, it was. Really has given me a new perspective, and I'm. I feel fortunate for having been there.

[Interviewer/Host]

But I was with you when you were going through that. Even then, your humor was part of the whole process. Do you remember telling the story about how they somehow fixed your eyes through your groin and you had to tell that story? I was like, really? We're going to talk about this now,

[Mike Rowe]

just by way of preamble, because I know you're going to go there. I know I can't stop you. But she was off the podcast. I mean, she. My podcast gets a few million people listening to it every week, and she comes back every month. She's the most popular recurring guest. Well, she wasn't on for nearly four months, and people were freaked out. And then when she finally came on, I think the first words out of your mouth were, I need to tell you about my groin. And I checked to make sure we were rolling. And we were. And then she proceeded to share this little gem.

[Peggy Rowe]

I had something in my brain called a fistula, which is when your arteries and your veins clump together and prevent the blood from going up into the capillaries at the top of your head. In order to get there, they have to go in through your groin. And I said, it's the scenic root. They go all the way up in front of your ear, in back of your eye. And it's really very scary when you think about it. Teams of doctors came in around the clock to check on my progress. And they were very concerned about my groin, of course, because I had a bleed. And so they had to go from one leg to the other leg the next day. So they came in to check my groin. I mean, around the clock, day after day. So finally, on day four or day five, a group of doctors came in. I knew the drill, so I pushed off the blanket and pulled up my gown, and the doctor said, hi, Mrs. Rowe, we're the eye team. We're here to check your eyes. So I covered up everything. And we had a.

[Mike Rowe]

Not that eye.

[Peggy Rowe]

And we had a laugh. But, you know, if you can force

[Mike Rowe]

and rewards,

[Peggy Rowe]

if you can allow yourself to find the humor, even when it seems unattainable, life is so much more rewarding, and you can take almost anything. And it's not always easy to find the humor, but it's there. Just. I know it's not easy, but if you can try, it does help. It helped me. And the last day, a doctor came in and said to me, well, let me tell you, first of all, how terrible I looked. I was there for a week. Oh, I looked awful. I didn't even look like myself. I had a patch over my eye. My hair was all over the place. Mike took my picture. That's what sons are like.

[Interviewer/Host]

That's right. Number one son, right?

[Peggy Rowe]

Yeah. It was a selfie, and we were holding hands, and he took our picture, sent it to his brothers, and they said, who is that? Who's that? Mike's holding somebody's hand. So this doctor came in the last day, and he said, I guess you know why I'm here. And I said, well, I hope you're here to do something about my hair, because it looks terrible. And he laughed. You know, if you can make other people smile, too.

[Mike Rowe]

Here's the thing that I didn't tell you. Everybody in the room knows this. I'm sure. When your parents are 88 and 93 and you're 3,000 miles away, you know, there's guilt, there's worry. There's just all this stuff, you know? And to know that they're in a place where there is community and material and humor, that's priceless. To take it to the next level. I came to town to see her. She's at Hopkins. I had meetings in D.C. i came up, I sat with her a couple of nights, and, yeah, it was a heck of a week. And when I left, I could barely get to the elevator because nurses and assistants and doctors, like, everybody on the floor was like, hey, your mom, she's something else. Have you seen her groin? Not that. But I mean, like, you. You being there with your unwashed hair and your attitude and your. And your fear, but your accessibility, it's a gift. It's a gift not just to your family or to your neighbors, but, I mean, in a place like Hopkins, in the icu, you know, when doctors and nurses pull you aside to tell you about your mom, it's good that you're on the case, and it's great that you're willing to be so transparent about all of it. That's why some people are truly credible. That's why they're truly believable, because they'll you know, they'll always tell you the way it is. We just learned this morning. During that earlier interview, I mentioned she was alluding to a similar story and she said first they went into my left groin and then they had to go into my right groin. Which created a lot of confusion for everybody else in the room who was under the impression we only had the one groin. Groin, right. Like Mom's got two groins, you know? This is just amazing.

[Interviewer/Host]

You can be sure that your humor will be carrying on here through through your number one son. I haven't met your other two boys, but boy, he's a funny one here.

[Peggy Rowe]

Oh, they're funny too.

[Interviewer/Host]

Oh, are they? I can only imagine their barrel of

[Peggy Rowe]

L. And I thank you people for accepting me the way I am. You know, when your career takes off after 80, you have some limitations. I don't wear stiletto heels anymore. I wear Brooks tennis shoes. I wear black slacks and a presentable top. Nothing plunging. I don't accentuate my waistline. I don't have shapely calves.

[Mike Rowe]

Hey, show me your tattoo.

[Interviewer/Host]

I know.

[Sponsor Voice]

I'm waiting.

[Interviewer/Host]

It's coming.

[Peggy Rowe]

I don't have a tattoo. Later in life, there's some things you can't do. My memory isn't great. I'm not incontinent, just for the record. But I am prepared to both of you, thank you.

[Interviewer/Host]

You've enriched our day more than we can tell you. We appreciate it.

[Mike Rowe]

This episode is over now.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

I hope it was worthwhile. Sorry it went on so long but if it made you SM then share your satisfaction in the way that people do. Take some time to go online. And leave us a review. I hate to ask, I hate to beg, I hate to be a nudge. But in this world the advertisers really like to judge. You don't need to write a bunch, just a line or two. All you got to do is leave a quick five star review. All you got to do is leave a quick five star review.

[Mike Rowe]

And not three.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

All you got to do is leave a quick five star review.

[Mike Rowe]

Definitely not two.

[Sponsor/Announcer]

All you got to do is leave a quick five star review. All you got to do is leave a quick.

[Mike Rowe]

Even if you hate it. Five star. Especially if you hate it. Thank you.

[Sponsor Voice]

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