Free steel crack tire and bayou air crass The sun's head and creek side is fading fast
Are you really digging for peace Or is that just a lie tell to help you sleep
Sure that you hear y'all
I'm Jerry Wayne Longmarin y'all are presumably still y'all
All are welcome here in the Church of Internal Combustion
We just asked that you show up with an open heart
It's actually Wednesday for me
I'm recording I got shows in Gladewater, Texas this weekend
I'm going back up to the Piney Woods up to my little area where I'm from
And all manner of things are going to be tasked in the next few days
I'm not going to have time to sit down and do the podcast
Still haven't got the Cadillac sorted out but I'm working on it
Funny enough I had to rent a car on Touro for this trip because I decided to take the whole family with me
And the only car within my budget was the Cadillac XTC
So I'm renting a newer Cadillac to drive to East Texas
So let's just hope that goes well and the EBCM don't go out on that
So I'm 52 on the way there
I don't know much about the newer ones
We'll see
But we are going up there by the time you guys watch this I will already be on my way home
And hopefully it will be a successful weekend
I don't know, ticket sales aren't great
Which always stresses me out for the shows
So there's that to contend with
I'm hoping they get better by the time we get there and I got ads running
We'll just see but some of them are areas like that are hard places to market
So we'll see what happens
But I'm also going to go Friday and have lunch with my father and his wife
And Saturday the plan is
I've talked to my cousin Jimmy and got permission from him
Who now owns the property that the wrecking yard was on
Jimmy's also the one that found my mom's car in the woods and pulled it out for me
So the plan Saturday is meet my cousin Ricky's going to meet me over there in Lever's Chapel
And we're going to load up mom's Volkswagen
And Jimmy graciously allowed me to look around the shop and spend a few moments with the shop
And he's a good dude
You know we weren't really close growing up, he's quite a bit younger me
And I didn't see him a lot when we were younger
But man the past several years this dude is
Him and his wife are coming to the show Saturday night
I'm glad I put them on the guest list
Because this dude came and saw me performing Shreveport years ago
And it was messed up too because I hadn't seen him in a long time
Very little possum, huh, little possum not possum but a possum just run by
It was messed up man that night he come see me in Shreveport
He wasn't with the lady he's married to now
But that night he come see me in Shreveport
I was so excited, Uncle Bobby came that night too
Uncle Bobby and Aunt Lori and I think Granny came that night
And saw me performing Shreveport at the Funny Bone
At least I was there the whole week so they came to some of the shows
I was working with Steve McGrew
It's featuring for Steve McGrew
And funny enough that story kind of ties into the man I wanted to talk to y'all about today
Uncle Terry
But when Jimmy came to see me that night in Shreveport
Me and Rachel had not been together very long but we had just moved to a house in Oak Forest, Houston
And it's kind of a neighborhood had some problems
It's a lot better now but back then that neighborhood had some issues
And the house of course had burglar bars and all that kind of shit all over it
But Rachel had texted me while I was on stage
And when I got off stage she said she was scared
She thought somebody was messing around in the backyard or something
So you hear somebody in the backyard and we had heard somebody
We had caught somebody in our backyard one night before
And I had run them off
I have a history this is the funniest thing
So I have lots of guns
I'm pretty well trained with the use of firearms
You spend a lot more time shooting than I do now but I used to go all the time
But despite having those things at my person
And they're in safes and I got a biometric safe and everything that's for quick access
All that good stuff
Despite having those things around me I have a bad habit of chasing intruders away naked with hammers
It's happened at least three times
One time for sure an intruder
Another time for sure an intruder
And another time may not have been nothing
But all three of those times I have woken up, bolted out of bed with maybe nothing more than a pair of underwear
And because I was a contractor for so many years and I work on stuff at the house all the time
There's always a hammer nearby
And my first instinct is to always just grab the hammer and go chase something outside
And one night at that particular house
She had heard a noise in the middle of the night, she's very light sleeper, I'm a heavy sleeper
She heard a noise and I woke up and it sounded like somebody crunching around in our backyard in the leaves
And I bolted up out of bed and under the bridges
Grabbed a hammer out of the kitchen, set off in the backyard
And somebody run around inside the house, jumped over the fence, that was the end of it
Well it wasn't the end of it, we didn't sleep much that night, we were freaking out about that all night, it was a new neighborhood
Anyways, getting ahead of myself
She texts me, says hey I think somebody's in the backyard, I'm hearing somebody walking around back there
And I'm kind of freaked out because I'm here by myself
And her dad at the time was like in Huntsville or something, really good distance away
And so I called my buddy Steve, texted him and asked him if he'd go over there and check it out
And hang out him and reach for friends, wasn't a problem, you know what I mean?
Like watch movies, bullshit
But in the meantime she wanted me to stay on the phone with her because she was really freaking out
And Jimmy and his friend had come and seen my show
And I didn't get to really talk to him after the show because I was on the phone with her and she was rightfully so freaking out
About maybe somebody, an intruder being in our yard
And I always hated that he ended up having to leave and I didn't get a chance to think of him coming out and hanging out and everything
He was just a good dude
But funny enough, that same Shreveport trip
I went fishing with my cousin Justin who was Terry's son
And that's one of my favorite fishing trips I've ever been on
We just had a little talk about it more
Anyway, so we're getting ready to go to Gladewater
We got moms in there packing the kids up
I cleaned the bathroom because there's nothing more
That shows you how old I've gotten is my favorite thing
Is cleaning the bathroom right before we go out of town
So come home, the bathroom is sparkling, it's perfect
And go in there and take that first back home dump
And it's a good time, it's just what you need to welcome you back into your home
That's how old I am now
And I've been getting stuff ready
I had to of course finish writing this episode
And I went ahead and wrote next week's episode or parts of it
Because one of the things we're going to do is
You know, if everything works out, we get to go out there and get the car
We're going to do quite a bit of filming out there
And I'm going to do some narrating for you guys
So next week's episode is going to be kind of a special episode
Where I'm going to take y'all to the wrecking yard
You know, and you know what's left of it
So I think, and we're going to get what's left of mom's car
And then I've wretched out to Mikey Brown
And me and him are going to brainstorm and figure out what to do with that car
So I'm really excited about that
Also, full of some trepidation
And it's the same trepidation I always get about going home
I just, I don't feel like I belong there anymore
I do like going and I like seeing everybody
But I always feel this little sense of unease that my time there is over
And it's not, you know, that's when they tell you you can't go home
But you can't because it's not the same, it's not the same place
It's not, nothing, some things are the same
You can go eat you a char burger, but Charlene ain't there
You know what I mean?
You can, I can go look at that shop all I want
But you know who ain't, Papa ain't there, my dad ain't there
And I'm going to see my dad, which I'm excited about that
But we just, our relationship is full of work
And I don't even know any other way to describe it
We just, we're always, we're just not quite there yet
I'm also sort of studying, I'm getting up Sunday morning
And going and sitting in a service at the First United Pentecostal Church
Just to see the inside of that building one more time
I don't know, say goodbyes to some things, that's what I'm going to do this weekend
Is I'm going to say some good, say some goodbyes to things
Because I don't think I'll be going there again for a while
We'll see
I
I want to get too deep into it, but
Uncle Bobby's daughter is in the hospital, Shani
And it's not, it's looking pretty grim
So
It's just not a good situation
But I think that might be the last straw for me as far as, I mean sometimes I just think that old woman cursed us all
I don't know, it doesn't matter
But I do sometimes think that
Let's do some sponsor copy
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Uncle Terry
It's my dad's youngest brother
And my dad's almost a baby, so it's a
If I had to line it out for you, it goes, I believe
It was Stanley
Larry, Gary
Linda
Then Jerry and Terry
A lot of airy names there
His name was Terry Lee
Terry Lee
And that's how they called him, Terry Lee
Terry Lee
Terry Lee
Jerry Wayne
Terry Lee
They never called Larry by his middle name
I couldn't even tell you what Larry's middle name is
And Gary, I think was Gary Jean
They called him Gary Jean every once in a while
But
Of course, Stanley's middle name was James
That's what Stanley wanted to be called, James
I should have just called him Uncle James
When I was real small
I don't know how much younger Uncle Terry is than my dad
I think maybe it's just three or four years
It's not much
I heard stories about him all my life
My dad used to tell me that every time
Me, mom and papa all left to go to a girls' store
Go run errands
And Linda would beat the shit out of him and Terry both
And I, you know what
That doesn't even surprise me
They all grew up in a war-like chaotic household
Tell me lots of stories
But Terry Lee was the baby and he got away with more shit
Around Papa Longmire
Papa Longmire seemed a little softened towards Terry Lee
And Terry Lee could get the old man's goat and mess with him
And my dad always sort of envied the way Terry could get them in and out of shit
When they was growing up
He used to tell me a story about one time him
And Uncle Terry and Aunt Linda
And I think two of the neighbor boys decided to play war in the cornfield
And ruined the section of this old dude's cornfield
And he came over and got Papa Longmire involved
And some butts got whooped
And shit went down
Because they ripped a whole mess of cornfield
And he said Terry was the only one that didn't get his butt whooped over that
Because he'd come up with some reason why he didn't know it was a cornfield
Sounds ridiculous
When I was a kid, him and Aunt Robbie was already married
And they had a...
They lived in the neighborhood
So my mom and papa all lived right on Highway 31
Right when we were going through Kilroy, Texas
And they lived pretty close to Frisk Watson Road where the church was
And right behind their house there was a little neighborhood back there
And there was King's Highway and Bill Street
And there was one of these streets back there
It was called Tidewater Street
When I was a little kid, Uncle Terry and Aunt Robbie lived in this big old...
It seemed huge to me when I was a kid
It probably wasn't that big
But very, very old house that was built on that street
I remember they had a pool table
In their dining room
Because Uncle Terry had seen the hustler
And he decided he was going to be a pool player
And they had this big old mean cat that just hated my guts
That's mostly what I remember about that house
Is that cat just jacking me up every opportunity it got
That cat hated my guts
And sure enough I was asked my dad about it
I was talking to him the other day and I brought this up
And I said, man, do you remember them having some big old...
Because that big old mean gray cat
I was like, yep, okay, I didn't imagine that
That's something that he hated everybody except for them
But you know, when my parents got married
Uncle Terry still lived at home
Be my own papa
And...
Well, my uncle Terry's about the only person my papa would praise
He'd just tell you, boy, Terry Lee...
I'll tell you what, Terry Lee never raced a motor
Never raced a motor
That boy worked on cars, never raced a motor
That's papa's big unforgivable sin
Go out there and race that motor out in driveway
Boy, Terry Lee, he never raced a motor
But one story I did hear about him was around that time period
Right before mom and daddy got together
Uncle Terry had him a 1965 Mustang
A little white Ford Mustang
I believe it was
I think he had a date with Aunt Robbie
And he had decided to change oil in his car before he went on this date
And he hadn't had the car very long
He pulled it up the driveway and he got the pan
He got up under there and he took the drain plug out
Drain the oil
And my daddy said he was working on something else
Doing something else
Terry came over and said, man, I think there's something wrong with my car
So I'm supposed to take five or six quarts of oil
But I've already put eight quarts of oil in it
And it still ain't even showing on the dipstick
Dad went over there and checked the dipstick
Yeah, I don't know
Dad said they were standing there for a minute
He looked down and he noticed the oil was leaking out behind the front tire
Running out on the driveway
He said, Terry, did you put the drain plug back in it?
And he said, Terry, he said, yeah, of course I put the drain plug back in it
And then he just kind of poked him and pointed that oil leaking out behind the tire
And Terry said, oh, shit, I forgot to put the drain plug in it
Jump back over there
And he had to import all his new oil down through the motor
And then overflowed the pan that I was using to drain the old oil
And my dad said, pap, oh, oh, Mark, come on
Glued about all that oil on his driveway
Which was funny because it was just an old tar driveway to begin with
But apparently the old man had just lost his mind about it
My uncle Terry is the biggest of the Longmire clan
My dad was tall, my dad was 6'2", 6'3", Uncle Terry could look down at him
I don't know how tall Uncle Terry was
But I suspect in his prime, probably 6'4", 6'5".
He's taller than Uncle Gary, way taller than Uncle Larry
And taller than Stanley, taller than Papa when he got this full height
Papa was pretty tall, he was over 6' but Uncle Terry was big, big
And I seen pictures of him when he was young, he liked power lifting
He was strong as an ox
My favorite thing about Uncle Terry was he's the only other one in the family
Had blonde hair and blue eyes, like I did, you know
I've later since found out that my great-grandfather on that side
His name was John Thomas, he had blonde hair and blue eyes
And my papa didn't get it, but somehow I got it
Uncle Terry got it
What I mostly remember about Uncle Terry was he was just always really kind
I liked, as a kid I liked talking to him, he was always interested in talking to you
He was always interested in what you were doing in school, what was going on
When I first started getting cars and stuff, he was interested in that
He was just, he was good
And when my dad and the brothers would sit around and tell the stories
Uncle Terry didn't tell me stories, but he sure cut up and laughed at the rest of them
He had something happen to him, I can't remember what it's called
I think it's called Gin Bears Disease
But it was some crap that happened to him, I think when he was around 20
And it basically paralyzed him, what was going on
And it took him a while to recover from it
And I don't think he ever got quite back to the weightlifting
When I was growing up small, he was a big man, like heavy, weight-wise, he was just a big old man
And beautiful musician, incredible musician
My dad was a trombone player, my dad was a pretty good musician
But Uncle Terry could play just about anything
If he had strings on it, Uncle Terry could play it, and he could play it well
But what he mostly did in the church was he played banjo with the church band
And I just have a special affinity for banjo players
Not that I know anything about it, I don't know anything about music other than I love it and I enjoy it
But to me, the banjo just looks so much more complicated than a guitar, it just looks harder
And I like him sounds it makes, maybe that's a little bit of deliverance I got in me
Maybe that's just watching Uncle Terry sit up there at the church and play that banjo
Got you, got you, watch Uncle Terry play that banjo for the church
He taught the Sunday school class I was in when I was 7
Right about the time when we moved to Houston, I was in him
Him and Meemaw taught the Sunday school class for that age group
Meemaw had been teaching that age group for a real long time and Uncle Terry had come on to help her
You know, even in that community, we were still like, we lived out in the sticks
You know, we didn't live in city, in town, we didn't have nice cars and nice things
I had two friends in that class, one of them's name was J.D. Payne, J.D. Hain
And the other one's name was Mark Ferris and I'm still friends with Mark Ferris to this day
We've reconnected over the years, but they were just a little bit older me, a couple years older me
They showed me my first naked woman, I remember that
They had it right behind the church, there was a softball field
And behind that softball field was this little outbuilding that had fallen apart out there in the woods
And they had found a stash of nudie mags, hustlers and stuff like that
And they had stashed them out there in that building and they took me out there to see them one time
And I remember the first time I saw lady parts that scared the shit out of me
Because I didn't know what the hell was going on down there
But probably far too young to be seeing that sort of thing
But I was just worried something bad had happened there
Because I only knew what I had at that point and it didn't look like that
Pentecostals, not real big on sex education and such, they just tell you not to have any until you get married
And then figure it out on your own, good luck, no roadmap
But they were in that class with me and they kind of picked on me a little bit
And it's just the nature, I don't hold them any animosity, it's just the nature of the thing
I was small, I was pretty weak compared to them, they were both physically stronger than me
They were both a little bigger than me and they lived in town
Mark and his family, they had a nice house and nice cars
His dad did pretty well selling insurance and JD's dad was the assistant pastor at the church
And they did all right, they had a nice car, stuff like JD had go-karts and all kind of crap like that
JD broke his leg riding go-karts around the church, run up under somebody's car or something
I can't remember what happened, but when I first met JD he had a broke leg
But I remember they was picking on me in that class one day
Telling everybody I had picked my nose and I probably had, I was a booger picker
I was just a little dork, I was the dorkiest dork that ever dorked
I was just the dorkiest kid, I spent all my time in books and the rest of my time wandering around with my dog in the wrecking yard
I was just a little dork, I didn't have a lot of friends, I didn't have good social skills
I was pretty shy and they was just picking at me about this and making fun of me
And I remember Uncle Terry just kind of stood up out of his chair and went over there and looked at him
He goes, you gonna try to look me in the face and tell me you two boys never picked your nose before?
And they both like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, so what's so different about you picking your nose and him picking his?
And I remember being glad he was defending me, but also like can we stop talking about me picking my nose
And he said, everybody in this room has picked their nose before and I don't know, he just kind of dressed them down a little bit
He's like, is this the kind of thing you want to be doing in church?
Is picking on somebody else and making fun of them?
Is that the kind of message you want to send the Lord?
Straighten them boys, you know what I mean, got them off my back a little bit and it's a silly little memory to remember about somebody
My Aunt Robbie has taught or I think she's retired now, but she taught special ed my entire life
And my Aunt Robbie is just one of the kindest women that I know
I'm hoping we get to see her while we're up there
She devoted her life to special education and teaching students with disabilities
And now her daughter, their youngest Julie is doing the same thing
And I love the way they talk to my son, my son Noah, because they understand him
And he vibes with him right off the bat and I can just, I just so appreciate that out of them
It's rare you meet people that really know how to vibe with somebody who's different and they're just so good at it
But Aunt Robbie was kind of like that for me when I was growing up
She was always so kind to me about stuff like that
I feel bad about this, her son Justin is younger than me
And there was a period of time I remember when we were little that I kind of bullied him
And I don't want to make justifications excuses for it, it was mean
I was bullying him because he was smaller than me and I could
And I think I probably learned the behavior from people that was bullying me
And it went away very quickly, but I just remember her kind of laughing about my mom
Like oh this is just something they got to go through
Jerry Wayne's not mean, he's not mean spirited
I don't remember what happened, I remember I was climbed up in a tree and I was shooting him with a water gun
And every time he got close to me I would hose him down with that water gun
And he was getting really upset and there was, over the years me and him
Maintained some level of closeness and stuff as we grown up
And I'm glad because he's about six foot five and probably a good 320 pounds
And could bend me over like a damn lawn chair if he wanted me to
And probably pick me up and throw me in a dumpster
He's a big old stout boy
Two of my younger cousins, him and Dominic, both six foot five
Monsters of men that used to be fun to what they got of age
Go to the bar and take them to the bar with me though because they both like black leather jackets
Look like I had these two goons with me
And I ain't gonna lie, I got a little mouthy
You know, Brutus and Cleetus behind me
Even though I'm not sure either one of them really knew how to fight
But they were just so ominous people left us to be
And I took advantage of that some, sure, sure I did
Van Robbie was always still kind to me, she always was
And she said, she was there for me at a time
She, it's not even, it's not even a big thing
But at the time it was everything in the world
I mean, my family's very, very religious
And all the people in that little town that we grew up with
In our church community, everything also very, very religious
So when somebody dies, what do they say?
She's in a better place
She's not in pain now
She's off with the Lord, she's in a better place
And I know they mean well with it
I know the intentions are well-meaning
That's what makes it so hard
Because the people were saying that to me at my mom's funeral
And they were just, it was like a line check
Of people coming up that couldn't wait to tell me that
She's in a better place now, Jerry Wayne
And every time they said it, it would break my heart
Because all I could think was what better place is there than with us
There's no better place than with us
That was the better place
And while I am somewhat a person of faith
And somebody who does show some concern for my soul
I'm not a big believer in heaven and hell
I won't go too far into that
But I just, not a big believer in those things
I remember all those people were coming up to me
And we're saying that
And when Aunt Robbie came up, she just hugged me
And she said, I am so sorry y'all are going through this
I love y'all so much
And it just meant everything in the world
And I whispered in her ear, I was like
Oh, I feel like if one more person tells me she's in a better place
I'm going to lose my mind
She hugged me tighter and she said, kiddo
If you have to punch somebody, I got your back
And of course I wouldn't go to hit anybody at a funeral or anything like that
Or some poor stranger saying a nicety
But it was just knowing, I don't know
It was just knowing who she was and that she was there for me in that moment
And sometimes moments aren't big
The thing I really think about the older I get
Is some of the most important moments in my life
Some of the things I really dwell on and think about
When my mind is free to wonder are the very small moments
So it was a small moment, it wasn't a big moment
It took seconds, but she had my back
I knew she had my back and it made me feel better
Uncle Terry sticking up for me with them boys
Not a big moment
But an important small little
I think our life is made up of these little tiny little molecules of moments
And I think when you really think back to your life
And you look at the things that are important to you and the things that shaped you
You're going to find that a lot of those small moments did a lot more of that sanding on you
To make you who you are today than the big moments
The big moments sure, they make changes to your personality
Your psyche, your wiring, the way you look at things, your perspective
Of course they do
But I bet if you could somehow do an analysis
You would find out that the small moments did far more to shape who you become
I was talking to my buddy Adam
Adam that's working with me on the book, my editor
And telling him about a small moment
Meeting a Holy Ghost preacher in a tire shop one time
And having a conversation with his dude
And how he told me I had an anointing
That it was my job to make people happy and bring joy
And just a complete stranger and he prayed with me
Anyways, I think it's those little moments
That's a very important little moment to me
Even after when we moved to Houston
Some of the family would visit from time to time
But Uncle Terry and Aunt Robbie came all the time
Now they're youngest, Julie
She had problems with diabetes and stuff when she was young
And she had to come down to the hospital here in Houston
So they could put like a pump on her that pumped insulin for and everything
She had whatever the real scary diabetes is
I don't know a lot about it
So we had seen them a lot
Because they had been down dealing with that
But they would come and visit us quite often
And it was always a good time
My mom would always plan a host
We'd go to Astor World
A lot of times we went down to Brazos Bend and went fishing
Because Uncle Terry loved fish
And Dad liked fish and we'd go down to Brazos Bend
We didn't have no boat or nothing
We'd just go find us a little quiet place out there on Elm Lake or somewhere
In the state park
And we'd have a little mom and Aunt Robbie
We'd make a big old picnic and we'd hang out
Fish and not catch a whole lot of nothing
But we'd have a good time
Uncle Terry like I'm not his kid
I'm sure he raised his voice at times
But even when he was hot
He didn't really like
He would get a little bass in his voice
He kind of had a more nasally voice than me
They kind of talk out of the back of his nose a little bit
And he'd lean his head back like that
I can't quite do it
But I love talking with Uncle Terry
And Uncle Terry was into computers
Before anybody was
Uncle Terry read CAD machines and stuff
And he was really smart
He knew a lot about automation
He was like the first guy
Him and Uncle Bobby were the first guys that were building computers
For themselves
And
They had two kids
They had Justin, Julie
And they'd come down
We'd have a good time
We'd go fishing
All kind of stuff
Lug cool around
All over Brad's been state park
Fish and
My dad would of course be irritable
And pissed off about something for the end of the day
And Uncle Terry would just always kind of laugh
My dad could get angry as shit
And Uncle Terry would just kind of laugh at him
And just completely unbothered
By everybody else's
And I think Uncle Terry maybe just dealt with
Like I know he had a temper
There ain't no son of John Longmires
Didn't have some kind of temper
But he didn't really put it on display
He could always keep his in check for the most part
He wasn't like
My dad and the rest of his brothers
I seen Uncle Terry lose his flip shit
And come on my Uncle Gary flip shit
And come on glue
I seen my Uncle Stanley
I mean my Uncle Larry tear off across the yard
At his son Dwayne
Like he's ready to throw a car at him
I've seen you know
Y'all have heard stories about my old man
Never seen any of this out of my Uncle Terry
And I've seen him lose his cool couple of times
Working on something but
He was a pretty good mechanic
Anything with his hands
Man was just good at music
Can't it didn't matter
But he
So like my dad got into computers
My dad didn't like video games
My Uncle Terry liked video games
And he would talk to me about video games
And when we would go hang out at their house
Or spend the night at their house
He had a Commodore 64
And he had some games on it
And he had let me and Justin play on the Commodore 64
And he also
My Uncle Terry loved stand up comedy
And so they got the cable channels at their house
And we would go sit on the bed in their room
And we would watch
I think it was Caroline's Comedy Hour
And that's like
That's where I saw like John Panette
That's where I learned John Panette's routine
From when I was a kid
And you know
Back then
Tim Allen
Was still doing stand up
You'd see Tim Allen on there
And you'd see Miss Cheryl on there
It was just fascinating
It was fascinating to me
I used to watch Paula Poundstone a lot
It was fascinating to me
Never in those days
Did Don on me that was going to be something I wanted to do
But I sure loved watching it
Jeff Dunham and Peanut
Back in the day
In the old days
For Jeff to become whatever Jeff is now
But back then
The first time I saw Peanut
I thought that was the funniest shit I've ever seen in my life
And Uncle Terry used to do the peanut
Hey Bruno, you're going to like this one
It's simple
Like Uncle Terry would make all the jokes
He'd do all the routines
He liked it when I did the John Panette thing
He liked John Panette
Uncle Terry was a big big man
I seen him eat a whole package of Oreos
And one sitting one time
So fast
It was just a big dude
Man
And fish and fool
That man knew everything
Like as good as my Papa Longmire was
A fisherman I don't think
He ever held a candle to Uncle Terry
Uncle Terry studied fish
He could tell you about where they slept
How they ate, what their patterns were
He studied fish
And man catch fish
Anyway we're going to Gladewater
He used to love fish like Gladewater
He was just great to be around when I was a kid
I was always happy to be around it
I was always happy to be around Aunt Robbie
She was fun, I loved spending the night at their house
And hanging out with them
It was always a good time
We were always going to have a good time
They had a Honda Odyssey
Uncle Terry had found this old used
Honda Odyssey
I don't know if you remember that
If some of you are overseas you might not know what that is
But Honda back then made this thing
It was kind of like a big go cart
With Doom Buggy tires on it
And it was called a Honda Odyssey
It had a little 8-10 horse engine on it
And they had Uncle Terry
Had found one of them used and fixed it up
Got it running
Well me and Justin would drive at Honda Odyssey
All over their property
They had a little piece of land out in Liberty City
By that time
We just had a good old time
When I first started driving
Aunt Robbie was one of the first ones
To throw me her keys
Some of y'all heard me do the joke
On stage about
Sitting in a Nissan Center too fast
She had a Nissan Center
With a five speed in it
And she knew I knew how to drive standard
But I wasn't real good at it yet
And she let me take
Julie and Justin
My sister down to the snow cone stand
Get her by snow cones
And I parked on a hill and I had never done that
In a standard transmission before
So we got in the car every time I tried to back up the hill
The car died and of course Julie was little
She started crying and wailing
And then
I started freaking out
About what to do and I finally just
Jammed it in reverse and floored it
And dumped the clutch and probably just about
Ripped all the engine mounts out of that poor little
Nissan Center to get it back up that hill
And turned around and
About the time we got back
To the house of course Julie is telling her
Version of the events in which I almost killed them
And Kimberly's like
Yeah it was pretty scary and Justin's talking about it
And I'm trying to explain what happened
I'm Mary Ant Robbie just came over to me
She goes hey I've had that happen
To be before
Next time it happens pull your emergency brake up
Get the car, push the clutch in
Get the car in gear, start easing out in the clutch
And let down your emergency brake
At the same time and it'll help you back out of that
Or get out of that spot or off the hill
And
Like everybody else was like give me grief
But Robbie just came over and told me how not to do it
Next time like it was so nice and she was just
Well I was an idiot teenager
She was used to dealing with kids with
Disabilities so I probably fit the mold
At the time
She's a good lady
Still is, still a wonderful lady
I have another little moment
With Uncle Terry that I think about often
Is
When I was young and I was living up there
I was running around with Bobby
And I had that old trans
Am
I'd gone out to Liberty City
For something and
I wasn't making much
Money then I didn't have a whole lot of money
In my pocket and
Wasn't even sure I had enough gas to get back home
And
I drove by their house
Uncle Terry always drove this little Chevrolet Blazer
For a long time
GMC version of the S15
Type thing
And I saw it there and it ain't Robbie's car there
So I pulled in and
He was sitting on the porch
In the porch swing
And he of course
Gave me all the greetings and we talked a little bit
And he was like, how's your
Daddy said you're looking for a job
I was like, yeah, he found one yet
But I'm going to do some interviews this week
And stuff and I remember he just
Without even thinking about it
He goes, well, I know I've been there
And he pulled his wallet out and he gave me $20
He goes, why don't you
Take some money to help you out
Gas and stuff
And he just gave me that 20 bucks
Just kindness
Just hey
See if anybody can help you out
Get a 20
And back in them days
The $20 went a long way
$20 bought gas
And food
And did a lot
Back in those days
Him and Robbie had left the church
And I don't know all the details
And that but
The church hadn't treated them kindly
And they left the church
And they never went back
And
But still just good
Just
Some people are just good
You know
The funniest thing about it
Is I really think
My Uncle Terry was my dad's best friend
My dad just
He just didn't have a lot of friends
But him and Terry grew up together
They were probably the closest
Out of all of them
My dad and Terry were tight
They were thick as thieves
And they both knew computers
They both could have the most boring
Conversations in the world
Uncle Terry just didn't get
He was talking about the things he liked talking about
And that was just kind of the end of it
People would bring up politics
All that kind of stuff
He just stayed out of it
He didn't feel the need to
Override somebody else's opinion
Or anything like that
He was just
But he
I really think he was my dad's
Real best friend
I really think that's the case
I think my dad had him
And my dad was real close to my Uncle Stanley
And
He lost Uncle Stanley
And him and Terry got tighter
I always think about that
Often like
My father
Like I wonder
About the damage that has been done
To his psyche
Having to lose Uncle Stanley
And then very
Shortly after Uncle Stanley died
Uncle Terry died
My dad's youngest brother
I remember it because
It was another night
I was working at the laugh stop
And
It's the other time
My cousin Amy came and told me somebody died
After a show, you know
It was
I think it's the one time
I think that is the time Amy came and told me
I think with Uncle Stanley I got a call
But
Amy and her boyfriend at the time
Had come to the comedy show
They were living in Houston
And
They had come see me at the comedy show
And after the show
She said I didn't want to tell you before the show
But
Uncle Terry died this morning
And he had a massive heart attack
They say what it really
He had like fallen down
And ruptured something inside of him
And he didn't think it was a big deal
So he didn't go to the doctor
And then it turned into a big deal
And then the stress of that
Ended up causing
I think he perforated his colon
Or something when he fell
And the stress
Of all that on his body caused a heart attack
And we lost him
And I remember then
Just like being worried about my dad
Because I knew Uncle Terry was my dad's best friend
And it was so soon after Uncle Stanley had died
And
That's the craziest thing
Like
I remember me and Amy talking about this
Like
But now even more so I think
Our dads were robbed of their brothers
But not by war
Just time
Two of five went to Vietnam
And came back
Like that
Was a super common
Two brothers go off to Vietnam and come back
But Uncle Larry
And Uncle Gary went off to Vietnam
And come back unscathed
I may not unscathed
But whole
As far as physically
But since that
My dad has had to bury every one of his brothers
He had four brothers
He's had to bury all four of them
And that's a perspective
I reckon only a man who is buried
Of his brothers
Can understand
I cannot imagine
It has to be one of the loneliest feelings
There is
I mean to just
And he's not even the youngest
You know
But he has had
To stand
At a gravesite and say goodbye to all four of his brothers
I've been a pallbearer for every one of them
And
Now it's just him and his sister
You know and she's
My inland is not in good health
She's
She actually just had a fall a while back
Broke something in her neck
And she's not doing good
But I can't imagine
What that's like
I can't begin to fathom
I have the one person
That I call my brother
And Joey is my brother
But
I'm terrified
Of that phone call
I don't want to live in a world
Where Joey doesn't exist
So I hope I go before he does
So he has to deal with it
Because himself is like that
That's all right
I'm owning it
I just want to
I hadn't talked about him a lot
And I thought about that
I was thinking about that day
With the Sunday school
And I was thinking about him
Telling me when I was learning to drive
That don't hit your brakes in a curve
Make your brake pads wear out faster
I just was remembering
All these little kindnesses
He paid me over the years
The many, many kindnesses
My Aunt Robbie has shown me
And they were just
Fantastic people
Just living
Their lives
My cousin Justin grew up
Married a real sweet lady named Valerie
And he has a good life with her
My cousin Julie's got
A lot of good things going for her
I think maybe a couple kids
Y'all did it, y'all pulled it off
Y'all did the thing
Kids grew up, they kind of got their lives together
You did it
Justin's about as good a human being
As you'd ever want to know
I feel bad
During the pandemic, Justin
I was doing a lot of leather work
And Justin sent me a knife
Somebody made him
He wanted me to make him a knife case for it
And I started making the case for it
And then the truck astrology stuff blew up
And all of a sudden I was busy
Doing gigs again
And all kind of stuff
And I couldn't do all my leather work
And I ended up just having to send him his knife back
I never got to finish that leather case for him
But I still got the pieces of it
Over in my leather box
So maybe one of these days I
Find something that
Looks similar to that knife and finish that case
For him and send it to him
I hot to
Let's wrap it up there
Well, this ain't going to be a real
Long one this week, we're going to do some testimonials
And
I'm going to address something
And it's
I don't want anybody
No, we'll get to it
We'll get to it
Let's do some testimonials
This is from last week's episode
Oh, our old buddy
Jacob Altrade's Master of Fun
I wish I could clip the last paragraph
Starting around five minutes
I couldn't agree more
No one has the same beliefs as me and that's okay
Yeah, it's just
You don't have to
And I'm going to talk a little bit about that
Because it's something somebody said in the comments
But you don't
I don't know when we became this
Everybody's got to believe the same as me
If they don't dehumanize them
I don't know
When that crept in
But it's frightening
It's not the world I grew up in
And even back then
We had all kind of other stuff going on
But it wasn't like that
My uncles
I remember when they would argue about politics
They didn't agree on nothing
They'd all argue and talk shit
And that'd be the end of it
Nobody was
Saying I don't want to live
In a country with these other people
And stuff like that
And that's the part that bothers me
You know
I think we've strayed a long way from
The seed of what this whole experiment was supposed to be
About Jake, I'm with you
And it's okay with me too
I
You know
The next testimony
There's
Matt Blue-eyed Viking
He said, I know you don't normally get political J.W.
But now is the time
Trust me, no one on the left watches you
It's a different day in time
They hate us
And I couldn't
I talked to you in the comments
I couldn't discredit you more
But I kept thinking about it
Because I had somebody else say something
Along those lines to me
And it really bothers me
Because
I'm not getting that
From anybody else
It's just
Few people that are doing that
And to me that feels
It feels like a threat
It feels
Not a threat, but like you're pushing something at me
And I don't enjoy that
And that kind of stuff
Happens to all of us
But when you say trust me
No one on the left watches you
The fact that you tried to sell me on it
Tells me you haven't really been listening to me at all
When you live in a vacuum
You start thinking the vacuum is the whole world
That's why I keep friends
Of different stripes
So I'm not breathing the same hot air all day
I talked to folks across the spectrum
Every single week
My neighbor's the most mad guy you've ever met in your life
I love that guy, he's a good dude
I don't think he's a harmful person
One of my best friends
Is as far left as you'd probably get
I don't agree with all his stuff
I don't even agree with a lot of it
But I know he's a good hearted person
That looks out for people in his life
That's why I tell you I judge people by their actions
I talk to folks across the spectrum
Every single week, not hypotheticals
But real people
I see the zip codes on the ticket sales
The addresses on the merch orders
The emails that start
Well, you probably won't agree with me
But I love the show
And it comes from all kinds of
From barbecue joints to vegan taco trucks
To union halls, deer blinds
Many bands and lifted trucks
It comes from all kinds of places
And what they all share is simple
They needed to laugh
They found their way here
Or they found their way to my show
Or they found their way to my content
I know an actual physicist
An astrophysicist in North Carolina
That watches my content
Politics is theater
And it's not even the good kind
It's kind of the fog machine
And paper crowns where the actors forget their lines
And blame it on the audience
If you want to buy into the play, that's your choice
But I'm not wasting my daylight on it
I'd rather spend my time on stories
Family
And getting a room full of strangers
To breathe in time together
You believe whatever fairy tales you want
I still love you
But don't come in here trying to tell me
Who hates me and who doesn't watch
I keep a close eye on my analytics
I know who buys tickets
Who buys shirts
Who shows up
Who listens to the podcast
On their drive to work
It's almost like this is my fucking job or something
I feel like somebody is selling you hate wholesale
And you're buying it up like toilet paper
In the pandemic
You remember how that went?
Folks had mountains of shaman and no food
That's what this is
It's full up on panic paper and starving for perspective
So let's be clear
You don't know my audience, I do
You don't see my inbox, I do
You don't read the room, I live in it
If your story tells you whole groups of people
Don't watch, that story is lying to you
And probably lying to you for profit
Step outside in the bubble
Breathe some fresh air and laugh with the rest of us
Because the people you think aren't here
They're already here laughing louder than you
And the only one missing out
Because of those feelings is you
You know
There are groups of people
Trying to make life difficult for us all
And I believe they're friends groups
All across the spectrum
That are doing things
To try to make everybody's life difficult
And I think when you feed into all that bullshit
And play the game, then you just make them stronger
And maybe I'll find out I'm wrong one day
Maybe I will
But you know what, I'd rather be wrong believing in the good of people
Than be right believing the worst
Hope you guys tune in next week
I'm excited about it
Please do me a favor, like and subscribe
If you enjoy listening to the podcast
All that helps my analytics
Hope your week's going well for you
Hope things are going better in your life
Hope maybe some of the
Some of the gnarliness of the outside world
Is calming down, I'd like to believe it is
I hope I can get enough people
In those rooms this weekend
That we can just have some good shows
And I can work some more on the special
I hope everything goes well with the Volkswagen
I'll be sure to let you guys know
When I'm in the chat
And I'm hoping I have
A bunch of cool video to show you next week
With some voiceover work and such like that
And
I'm beyond excited
About everything we're trying to do this weekend
Like I said, also very trepidatious
Also trepidatious
About that Cadillac I rented
Might be bad optics to be seen in the Cadillac right now
But whatever, it is what it is
Don't trust mama's car to get us there
And back without having some kind of issue
Right now and I can't get the damn thing
Registered so I'm trying to get all that
I can't get it inspected
To get the registration current
That's out so
I don't want to
Risk any problems on the trip
We got a lot of plans, a lot of moving
Parts we're trying to make happen
I'm hoping I get to visit with all my family
I want to visit, I know a bunch of them are coming
On Saturday night show so I'm looking forward to that
Seeing the cousin
Julie and
Cousin Shane
And
All them and having a little fellowship with them
I did
Find out that
The theater where I'm doing the shows
Used to be
A porn theater back in the 70s
For a short period of time and it's where they
First showed the Debbie does Dallas video
So
I've decided to wait
And let the Pentecostals know that
After the show
Because maybe I'll just bring it up
At the show, that'd be kind of funny
But I decided to do my crazy thing
Where I'm doing the wrecking yard
I'm not taking an opener, I'm just going to have
Jackson the owner of the theater
He's an entertaining cat
If you haven't seen the podcast I did with him
You should go check it out
And I'll put a link to that
But he's a crazy cat
And
I'm just going to have him bring me on stage
I'm going to do what I did in Chicago
I'm going to do that special combination
Of the wrecking yard and the tipping point
And
Because those folks are just
Pretty much buying tickets to me anyways
I just want to give them more of that
I want to give them a good night
Hopefully we'll sell a bunch of stickers
And come home with a little money in my pocket
We'll see
Thank you
The word that kept coming to my mind
When I kept thinking about Uncle Terry was unbothered
I kept thinking about that
It kept striking a chord in me
I was trying to figure something out about it
Like
My Uncle Terry
Was an unbothered man
At least from the outside looking in
Everyone
John Lomar's sons had a temper
It just showed itself different
Some of them flashed hot like lightning like my daddy
So I smoldered
Held it tight until it burned a hole
Clean through an engine block
But Uncle Terry just let most of it pass
I'm sure he raised his voice
From time to time
Any man will if you live long enough in this world
But most of the time
He wore the look of somebody who had already
Decided he wasn't going to let this thing
Or whatever this thing was
Take up any more space in his soul
Than it deserved
That's rare
I feel like most of us wake up bothered
I do
Bothered by the news
Bothered by bills
Bothered by who said what about who
The whole world stands on a street corner waving its arms
Trying to drag us into a fight
That don't even belong to us
Politics
Gossip
Arguments with strangers on the internet
All of it is bait, most days we take it
But Uncle Terry didn't
He talked about
The things he liked
Computers, comedy, music,
Fishing
And he didn't need you to like them back
To fill his own joy
He didn't measure the worth
Of his interests
Against the crowd
He didn't need
Agreement to keep his peace
I think
That's something worth aiming at
To be able to walk through this life
Without carrying every grievance home
Like a sack of wet laundry
To be able to just enjoy the things
That light you up without waiting
For someone else to clap for you
To choose joy and keep it
To stay unbothered in the middle
Of all this noise
And if I take anything from Uncle Terry
Into my own days, it's this
We'll learn the difference
Between what deserves my fire
And what deserves my silence
We'll spend less time
Clenched up in battles that don't matter
And more time unbothered
The way he was
Content, steady
Still finding reasons to smile
And that's the spirit
That I want here in the Wrecking Yard
Everybody's welcome here
But if you show up peddling
Discord and falsehoods
We're going to point you to the door
And tell you to drop that nonsense off in the gutter
Where it belongs
Don't mistake
My kindness for weakness
Or take it for granted
I've bounced off roofs, I've been beaten early to death
I've been cut on, I've been run over
I've been counted out and every single time
I got back up swinging
Don't let people put you in that position
I'm rooting for y'all
I tell you that every week and I'm meaning 100%
Even when we disagree
I mean
I'm rooting for you
Every single one of you
Every single one of you
That listens to this, comes here to share
I'm rooting for you
You
See you guys next week
Hopefully I have some cool footage of
Volkswagen for you
I'm J.W.
And I love you
The sun's in the creek side
Are you really digging
for peace
Or is that just a lie
You tell to help you sleep
You're sure that you really want to know
We'll be hiding all the stories
they told
You
Can't live this divided
There's no success for any of us
If it continues going this way
It's not a damn bit
I sure wish I had the solution
We'll be hiding all the stories
they told
About this episode
Jerry Wayne Longmire shares personal stories and reflections as he prepares for a trip back to his roots in East Texas. He discusses family connections, including memories of his Uncle Terry, who embodied a calm, unbothered spirit amidst life's chaos. The episode weaves through anecdotes about family gatherings, the challenges of performing, and the emotional weight of returning home. Longmire also touches on the importance of small moments that shape our lives, emphasizing kindness and joy over conflict.
Some folks flash hot, some smolder until they burn through an engine block. My Uncle Terry? He just let it pass. Do you fight fire with fire, or are you learning to stay unbothered?