Latest / I Do, Part 2 / LOVE STORIES: Jonathan and Harley Knight-Rodriguez, New Kid + Sweet Valley High Star
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: This is Amy and TJ Love Stories.
- 0:14Speaker 2: Welcome everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. It's
- 0:17Speaker 2: our special Love Stories series and we have the honor
- 0:24Speaker 2: of being with Jonathan and Harley Knight Rodriguez. I love
- 0:28Speaker 2: a hyphenated last name that speaks to just the union
- 0:32Speaker 2: that we are going to be diving into to find
- 0:36Speaker 2: all about their beautiful relationship Between Jonathan and Harley and
- 0:40Speaker 2: you all. You don't need any introduction because you have
- 0:43Speaker 2: been in our lives for oh so long. But thank
- 0:46Speaker 2: you both for being with us and for being willing
- 0:49Speaker 2: to share all of these private details about your love life.
- 0:54Speaker 2: And everyone listening is so appreciative because we're all more
- 0:58Speaker 2: connected than we think.
- 1:00Speaker 3: Yeah, that is true.
- 1:02Speaker 2: We all deal with some of the same stuff, don't we,
- 1:06Speaker 2: in relationships, So we are asking you the same questions
- 1:09Speaker 2: we ask all of our couples. So thank you all
- 1:12Speaker 2: for agreeing. You have no idea what we're about to
- 1:14Speaker 2: ask you.
- 1:15Speaker 4: No, no, no, now now, I'm like I'm sweating.
- 1:18Speaker 3: Now oh boy?
- 1:21Speaker 5: All right, and we are going to begin with our
- 1:24Speaker 5: first question. In five words or less, describe your relationship today.
- 1:34Speaker 3: Five words?
- 1:34Speaker 4: Oh, my goodness, amazingly, spectacular, settled.
- 1:48Speaker 1: It could be five or less happy.
- 1:53Speaker 3: I don't know.
- 1:53Speaker 4: You know, it's just we're at that point in our
- 1:56Speaker 4: age as well as our relationship that you know, it
- 2:00Speaker 4: just feels good. It feels we're not in our twenties
- 2:04Speaker 4: and thirties and battling all the demons that come along
- 2:07Speaker 4: with that.
- 2:08Speaker 3: Like we're in our fifties.
- 2:10Speaker 4: We're settled, we're content, we're happy, we're continually building what
- 2:16Speaker 4: you know, what we started eighteen years ago.
- 2:19Speaker 6: So yeah, all right, so let's go back eighteen years.
- 2:22Speaker 6: So we do that first. Actually, let me get your
- 2:24Speaker 6: five words.
- 2:25Speaker 7: Oh oh god, I'd say I was gonna say settled
- 2:31Speaker 7: as well. Effortless, yeah, content and just growing, growing with
- 2:43Speaker 7: each other. Yeah, growth that the end. Love still love.
- 2:47Speaker 6: So all right, so now let's go back the eighteen
- 2:52Speaker 6: you'll said eighteen years. So I'm curious if you all
- 2:54Speaker 6: can remember this. Who said I love you first?
- 2:57Speaker 7: Oh my god, see it's been that Yeah, it's been
- 3:03Speaker 7: that long.
- 3:07Speaker 4: I don't remember, but I would say it would have
- 3:10Speaker 4: been him, just because I was like in a period
- 3:14Speaker 4: in my life where you know, new kids were.
- 3:16Speaker 3: Getting back together.
- 3:17Speaker 4: I was traveling back and forth to LA I was
- 3:19Speaker 4: really unsure that this would last, you know, just because
- 3:23Speaker 4: of the distance and you know all that, so you
- 3:29Speaker 4: you definitely I'll give it to Hardy.
- 3:32Speaker 7: Well, it took me, yeah, because I was single for
- 3:34Speaker 7: such a long time and I was very just afraid
- 3:37Speaker 7: to get into another relationship. So I've been single part
- 3:40Speaker 7: five years before meeting him, and I was like, I
- 3:42Speaker 7: don't want to meet anyone deal.
- 3:45Speaker 3: My friends had their relationships were you.
- 3:47Speaker 7: Know, on the rocks, and and then I kind of
- 3:50Speaker 7: meet this guy and I was like, oh things have changed.
- 3:55Speaker 7: You know. It was very very unexpected, very and in
- 3:59Speaker 7: pretty much the line.
- 4:00Speaker 3: I was very reserved.
- 4:01Speaker 7: But after a while I would have been the one
- 4:05Speaker 7: to say, okay, here, this is it.
- 4:08Speaker 2: This is Harley. Do you remember the moment. It's funny.
- 4:11Speaker 2: I mean, it's you look back eighteen years ago. Do
- 4:14Speaker 2: you remember the moment where you said I love you?
- 4:17Speaker 7: It was it was I remember like the day we
- 4:21Speaker 7: met and everything was so I always say, it's one
- 4:25Speaker 7: of those things that we never That's why I said
- 4:29Speaker 7: effortless at the beginning. It was there was never a
- 4:32Speaker 7: point of like, oh does he really like me? Do
- 4:34Speaker 7: I like him? So it was just seamless, you know.
- 4:40Speaker 7: So There wasn't a significant like I love you, this
- 4:44Speaker 7: is it. I think we always already felt in love
- 4:47Speaker 7: before saying it, so it wasn't almost necessary.
- 4:51Speaker 5: But yeah, so it was just confirmation of what you
- 4:55Speaker 5: already confirmation.
- 4:57Speaker 7: I think we were just older too, and in our
- 5:00Speaker 7: already had been through relationships and it was again I
- 5:03Speaker 7: keep going to effortless, seamless, and yeah, it was just
- 5:07Speaker 7: meant to be.
- 5:08Speaker 6: All right, So we're going to ask you to tap
- 5:10Speaker 6: into the memory again because we're going to go back.
- 5:12Speaker 6: All right, tellas how long how long did you date
- 5:16Speaker 6: before you got engaged? If there was an engagement, how
- 5:19Speaker 6: long did you date before you got engaged? How long
- 5:21Speaker 6: were you engaged before you got married?
- 5:23Speaker 3: Wow, date a long time.
- 5:27Speaker 4: We dated a long time before we go. We got
- 5:30Speaker 4: engaged in twenty sixteen, so that was what's that eight years?
- 5:36Speaker 7: Yeah, so we were long distanced for the longest time,
- 5:40Speaker 7: from two thousand and eight all the way up to
- 5:44Speaker 7: twenty eighteen. I mean we were going back and forth,
- 5:47Speaker 7: you know, New York. Yeah, so it was it was
- 5:49Speaker 7: a long process because of our work and we were
- 5:53Speaker 7: on opposite sides of the coast, but we Yeah, twenty
- 6:00Speaker 7: eleven was when we moved to New York and he
- 6:03Speaker 7: was we were going back and forth and then yeah,
- 6:06Speaker 7: we've got engage twenty sixteen.
- 6:08Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's it's just funny that, you know, more
- 6:11Speaker 4: than half of our relationship has been not living together.
- 6:15Speaker 4: I mean, if it's if, if it's he you know,
- 6:17Speaker 4: he was in LA for work and then in New
- 6:20Speaker 4: York for work, and I've always had home base here
- 6:22Speaker 4: in Boston. This guy, you know, so and then just
- 6:31Speaker 4: me traveling for work, you know, so you know, thank
- 6:35Speaker 4: goodness for for for patients and trust and understanding that
- 6:39Speaker 4: you know this guy has to you know, go through
- 6:42Speaker 4: all that. And yeah, it's it's been. It's been quite
- 6:46Speaker 4: a journey. And I would say in the beginning I
- 6:49Speaker 4: was worried, you know, because a lot of my past
- 6:52Speaker 4: relationships they just couldn't deal with it. They were like,
- 6:55Speaker 4: what do you mean You're leaving for three months? And
- 6:56Speaker 4: then like, you know, calling every day, what are you doing?
- 6:59Speaker 3: What is the what is that?
- 7:01Speaker 4: So, you know, just to have somebody that's secure, patient,
- 7:05Speaker 4: support of.
- 7:08Speaker 3: It's been amazing.
- 7:09Speaker 1: And the engagement was in twenty sixteen. When did you
- 7:11Speaker 1: actually get married?
- 7:13Speaker 3: We actually are not officially officially married. Oh wait, we
- 7:19Speaker 3: are married, you know, twenty twenty two.
- 7:21Speaker 5: We have in our notes that you got married. What's
- 7:23Speaker 5: up with that?
- 7:25Speaker 4: Well, you know, it's all like we we're married, you know,
- 7:31Speaker 4: it's just you know, we're married.
- 7:35Speaker 2: Wait, but can I ask a question because normally we
- 7:37Speaker 2: don't ask this when you have heterosexual couples, because I
- 7:41Speaker 2: guess maybe wrongly, So we assume the man proposed to
- 7:44Speaker 2: the woman. But was there a proposal? And did one
- 7:47Speaker 2: of you propose to the other? How did you decide
- 7:49Speaker 2: to become fiances? And I guess ultimately yeah, married in air.
- 7:54Speaker 3: Quotes, you know.
- 7:56Speaker 4: And that's funny that, you know, as to man in
- 8:00Speaker 4: a relationship, Like I think we both of us waited
- 8:05Speaker 4: so long because we're like, you know, who.
- 8:07Speaker 3: Proposes, who does this? Who does? Like there's no real rules.
- 8:11Speaker 4: And I just got to a point where we took
- 8:15Speaker 4: a trip to Africa with our with our moms, and
- 8:19Speaker 4: I was like, this is this is the time. So
- 8:23Speaker 4: you know, I ran out and got rings and I
- 8:25Speaker 4: was just like, screw it, you know, let's just do this.
- 8:29Speaker 5: Yeah that's very sweet.
- 8:32Speaker 6: Okay, So now you've been together a long time, so
- 8:38Speaker 6: let's for whatever period of time you would consider your
- 8:41Speaker 6: marriage or maybe even go through your whole relationship. What
- 8:44Speaker 6: segment of it the beginning, maybe you have a specific year,
- 8:48Speaker 6: but over a stretch of time, would you go back
- 8:51Speaker 6: and you point to like, wow, that was the best
- 8:54Speaker 6: time of our relationship and it might be right now,
- 8:57Speaker 6: you know what.
- 8:57Speaker 4: The whole time has been the best, you know, I mean,
- 9:02Speaker 4: I think that's what life's all about, if you you
- 9:05Speaker 4: know what I mean. We go through some hard times
- 9:08Speaker 4: in life and relationships, but personally we've we've never had that.
- 9:14Speaker 4: It's just been since day one, just you know, a
- 9:17Speaker 4: growing and different stages of our relationship.
- 9:21Speaker 3: I mean, the first.
- 9:22Speaker 4: Stage was the long distance and then you know, we
- 9:26Speaker 4: spent a lot of years traveling together. And uh when
- 9:31Speaker 4: we say we're settled now because we just built a
- 9:33Speaker 4: brand new house, uh moved in a couple of months ago.
- 9:37Speaker 3: So we're you know, we're we're we have roots now.
- 9:41Speaker 4: So this is just a whole new journey now of
- 9:44Speaker 4: of you know, having well we've we've had a lot
- 9:48Speaker 4: of homes together.
- 9:49Speaker 7: But yeah, but this was you know how they say,
- 9:52Speaker 7: like building a home, it's almost you get divorced over
- 9:57Speaker 7: over these things. But it was you know, we work
- 10:01Speaker 7: through it. We respect each other's ideas and stuff. And
- 10:04Speaker 7: so this was the house that we just moved to,
- 10:08Speaker 7: was built from the ground up. So you know, there
- 10:10Speaker 7: was a lot of things that were like I don't
- 10:12Speaker 7: like this, I'll but you know, we made it, made
- 10:14Speaker 7: it through, you know, and there's so many other things
- 10:17Speaker 7: that we've gone through that that it's just a mutual
- 10:20Speaker 7: respect and we just well we can get through get
- 10:24Speaker 7: through anything.
- 10:24Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm curious, having spent so much time long distance
- 10:30Speaker 2: and now being together. What's harder being a part or
- 10:36Speaker 2: constantly being together?
- 10:40Speaker 3: I hate being a part.
- 10:41Speaker 4: Like He'll go I go away for months at a time,
- 10:45Speaker 4: he goes away for one day and I'm like cry baby,
- 10:47Speaker 4: calling him, like, well.
- 10:50Speaker 7: We get you know, you get into your rituals, you know,
- 10:53Speaker 7: your habits of you know, in the morning, you do
- 10:55Speaker 7: this that that, you know, take the dog out and.
- 10:58Speaker 3: So and so.
- 10:59Speaker 7: When he goes was you know, on tour or something,
- 11:01Speaker 7: it's the first few days it's like, oh my god,
- 11:04Speaker 7: we're already you know, everything gets scrambled up. But then
- 11:07Speaker 7: it's then you settled in. You're like, okay, it's nice
- 11:10Speaker 7: to have a little bit of space, you know, a
- 11:12Speaker 7: time away from each other and then you come back.
- 11:14Speaker 7: So when we were, you know, living apart from each
- 11:18Speaker 7: other for such a long time, every time we saw
- 11:20Speaker 7: each other it was like a honeymoon. You know, it
- 11:22Speaker 7: was like that honeymoon phase every time. So you know,
- 11:25Speaker 7: he would come to LA for two three weeks a
- 11:28Speaker 7: month and it was just bliss and then leave and
- 11:31Speaker 7: so you know, we didn't really fight. Everything was amazing. Yeah,
- 11:36Speaker 7: but now we understand each other. We you know, there
- 11:40Speaker 7: are times when you know, we we disagree on stuff,
- 11:42Speaker 7: but then and then he goes. You know, he's usually
- 11:46Speaker 7: outside on the tractor, like for eight hours a day anyway,
- 11:50Speaker 7: So we have our space there.
- 11:52Speaker 6: You know, wow, on the tractor. Didn't know the tractor
- 11:56Speaker 6: was just coming into this. That's a different episode.
- 11:59Speaker 1: We'll have to time.
- 12:01Speaker 6: We have a question, all right, we're gonna know now
- 12:03Speaker 6: switch to now a little segment you kind of tee
- 12:05Speaker 6: us up there having to do with fights and disagreements.
- 12:07Speaker 6: Every couple deals with it. But we'll start out with
- 12:10Speaker 6: the light one. What's the do you have a daily disagreement,
- 12:15Speaker 6: a minor little annoyance or something with each other or
- 12:18Speaker 6: a disagreement for us, I like sleeping with the TV on.
- 12:21Speaker 6: She absolutely hates it. We're not fighting about it every day,
- 12:24Speaker 6: But do you have a little thing around that house
- 12:26Speaker 6: that you kind of a little annoyance that a daily disagreement?
- 12:30Speaker 3: Almost? First of all, TV's in the bedroom are the
- 12:32Speaker 3: worst get rid of. That is so bad.
- 12:35Speaker 4: We purposely did not put a TV in our bedroom.
- 12:38Speaker 4: I think, I think, I think the only daily annoyance
- 12:42Speaker 4: is at nighttime, you know, after you know, we're done
- 12:45Speaker 4: working around the farm and we come in light a fire.
- 12:49Speaker 3: We sit for like an hour trying to decide what
- 12:51Speaker 3: to watch.
- 12:52Speaker 4: And that's that's probably the biggest daily controversy that we have.
- 12:58Speaker 7: And then I'll call a seve about five minutes into
- 13:00Speaker 7: it and it's wide away right in to watch, and
- 13:04Speaker 7: I'm just like boom, and then he gets annoyed.
- 13:07Speaker 3: Now you have to rewind it.
- 13:09Speaker 7: You'll watch, you know, two episodes of something.
- 13:12Speaker 3: I have to catch up now.
- 13:13Speaker 6: Is it because you all can't agree, like you like
- 13:16Speaker 6: to watch different things, or it just takes forever to
- 13:19Speaker 6: just make a decision.
- 13:20Speaker 3: No, there's too much on TV now.
- 13:22Speaker 4: I want to go back to the time when I
- 13:24Speaker 4: was eighteen when we had you know, five networks and
- 13:28Speaker 4: what was on and now it's just it's too much,
- 13:32Speaker 4: it's way too much.
- 13:34Speaker 5: What do you usually end up watching? Do you have
- 13:36Speaker 5: a favorite? I'm just curious.
- 13:39Speaker 4: Right now, we're watching land Man, which is amazing, but
- 13:44Speaker 4: the Morning Show.
- 13:45Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 13:46Speaker 3: We watch a lot of stuff like true crime.
- 13:50Speaker 5: Yeah, and then we like the true crime.
- 13:52Speaker 3: Oh, the true crime is good as long as as
- 13:57Speaker 3: long as they're not a documentary made about me. True crime, Oh.
- 14:01Speaker 5: God, exactly, exactly. As long as it's not about you,
- 14:04Speaker 5: it's all it's all good. I'm curious.
- 14:07Speaker 2: So how often do you all fight or have just
- 14:11Speaker 2: an argument or even a disagreement. It doesn't have to
- 14:14Speaker 2: be major, but how often do you squabble?
- 14:19Speaker 3: So rare?
- 14:20Speaker 4: And you know, it's funny because when I met him,
- 14:23Speaker 4: you know, my past relationships they were.
- 14:25Speaker 3: Very volatile and we would fight like crazy.
- 14:29Speaker 4: And met him and he's just so like, you know, whatever,
- 14:33Speaker 4: let's talk about it and let's work through it.
- 14:37Speaker 3: He's so even keeled.
- 14:39Speaker 4: That when I first met him, I was like, there's
- 14:42Speaker 4: something wrong, like this.
- 14:43Speaker 3: Is not normal. And then you know, you're you know, not.
- 14:48Speaker 4: Even a few months in I was like, Okay, this
- 14:51Speaker 4: is this is what relationships about. You know, you you
- 14:56Speaker 4: you have to communicate and you have to be upfront
- 14:59Speaker 4: and and express your feelings, but you don't have to
- 15:02Speaker 4: do it in a way that is mean or you know,
- 15:07Speaker 4: detrimental to your relationship.
- 15:10Speaker 3: You know, you respect exactly.
- 15:12Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean the only things that we would like
- 15:14Speaker 7: maybe just like building the house, like colors and stuff
- 15:18Speaker 7: like that, you know what I mean, Like he really
- 15:20Speaker 7: wants this, I'm like, eh, I hate it, and vice versa.
- 15:24Speaker 7: But then we finally figure something out or we just
- 15:27Speaker 7: don't do it and then we'll come back to it
- 15:29Speaker 7: later at a later date.
- 15:40Speaker 6: Now, you all have been together quite a while. Everybody
- 15:43Speaker 6: has bumps in the road, But is there ever a
- 15:45Speaker 6: time it could have been specific or maybe been over
- 15:48Speaker 6: a period of time, that you all actually got close
- 15:51Speaker 6: to calling it quits on your relationship.
- 15:54Speaker 3: We're boring. We are so boring.
- 15:57Speaker 7: If not, wow, after yeah, it's been eighteen years. And
- 16:03Speaker 7: usually they say, you know, like every seven years you
- 16:06Speaker 7: get that that, but we've never gotten to. Maybe it
- 16:10Speaker 7: is because we have the space. You know, he goes
- 16:13Speaker 7: off the tour and we I think maybe if we
- 16:16Speaker 7: were together twenty four to seven, for like a whole year,
- 16:19Speaker 7: we are parted.
- 16:22Speaker 3: You know what.
- 16:22Speaker 4: I know when we lived in Manhattan, we had a
- 16:25Speaker 4: seven hundred square foot one bedroom apartment.
- 16:28Speaker 3: That was tough. That was tough.
- 16:30Speaker 4: And I think if we stayed in New York in
- 16:32Speaker 4: a tiny apartment, like you said, if we're on top
- 16:35Speaker 4: of each other every single day, oh, it would be yeah, game.
- 16:39Speaker 2: On babe, right there, Like wait a minute, I mean,
- 16:45Speaker 2: we know it's crazy. We were like for years fighting
- 16:49Speaker 2: to just hang with each other and just have a
- 16:51Speaker 2: lunch with each other as friends, and now we're like, wow,
- 16:53Speaker 2: we are together twenty four seven. So yeah, there are
- 16:57Speaker 2: child Yeah that right there.
- 17:00Speaker 1: Only provacy I got this week is when I took
- 17:02Speaker 1: a shower. That was it.
- 17:05Speaker 5: I mean, he's not even kidding, Like that's it. Manhattan,
- 17:08Speaker 5: New York City apartment. There's no outdoor space.
- 17:11Speaker 2: So yeah, and when it's negative four feels like negative
- 17:15Speaker 2: four outside, you ain't going anywhere. All right.
- 17:19Speaker 6: Let's turn to the household, now, fellas. Some of the
- 17:21Speaker 6: chores that people do around the house, the cooking, the cleaning,
- 17:24Speaker 6: the laundry, how do you all divide it up? Who
- 17:27Speaker 6: those three main categories who's the Okay, I guess that
- 17:30Speaker 6: was either yeah, hand goes up.
- 17:32Speaker 4: No, Well we agree. I do the outside, he does
- 17:35Speaker 4: the inside. So it's you know, and thank goodness he
- 17:39Speaker 4: does because I walk in the closet and them t
- 17:42Speaker 4: shirts are folded up, just amazing.
- 17:45Speaker 3: He's obsessed with me.
- 17:47Speaker 7: He hates the laundry, and I'm like, oh, this is
- 17:50Speaker 7: actually yeah, not fun, but Mary's zen for me. I
- 17:54Speaker 7: get into it and then he thank god, he has
- 17:57Speaker 7: a green thumb. He's you know, like I said before
- 18:00Speaker 7: the tractor, he's always, you know, fixing things outside. So
- 18:03Speaker 7: I said, I would never be able to touch that.
- 18:05Speaker 7: So you deal with that and I'll deal with the inside.
- 18:08Speaker 7: So that it works out really well.
- 18:09Speaker 5: That works so well.
- 18:12Speaker 2: I love that strategy inside outside, But that works.
- 18:15Speaker 1: The best and simplest scenario I've heard any couple. I
- 18:19Speaker 1: got the outside.
- 18:20Speaker 5: I love that.
- 18:21Speaker 2: What are your thoughts on date nights? Do you all
- 18:25Speaker 2: make or prioritize times where you actually go out and
- 18:29Speaker 2: focus on your relationship.
- 18:33Speaker 7: We haven't done that in a while, especially with a dog.
- 18:38Speaker 7: Our son go ahead and get out of here, our needy,
- 18:41Speaker 7: our needy dog. But but he's got three But before
- 18:46Speaker 7: we would always, you know, we'd go out to dinner
- 18:49Speaker 7: and and and that would be like like our date night.
- 18:53Speaker 7: We wouldn't we wouldn't set set a certain night, but
- 18:57Speaker 7: we would we would go out, you know, in the
- 18:59Speaker 7: neighbor would and go to the local restaurant and stuff.
- 19:02Speaker 7: But now that we have this one, now we understand,
- 19:07Speaker 7: like you know, families with kids, we understand like, oh,
- 19:10Speaker 7: date night is seldom. It's very really forced yourself.
- 19:14Speaker 4: Yeah, but I mean I I you know, we make
- 19:17Speaker 4: a point of every night to sit on the couch
- 19:20Speaker 4: and spend time together.
- 19:22Speaker 3: And you know.
- 19:24Speaker 4: Our other house, we have no TVs, no internet, so
- 19:28Speaker 4: we just go there, we light a fire and talk
- 19:32Speaker 4: and it's it's so amazing, Like I know, we're just
- 19:36Speaker 4: out there and.
- 19:37Speaker 3: It's just us.
- 19:39Speaker 2: I love that two people who made their livings and
- 19:42Speaker 2: make their livings in the entertainment industry have chosen to
- 19:46Speaker 2: have zero entertainment around them when it comes to downtime.
- 19:50Speaker 2: I guess that does make sense, because that is kind
- 19:52Speaker 2: of like bringing work into your home.
- 19:54Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 19:55Speaker 4: No, And just nowadays we're just we're bombarded and it's
- 19:59Speaker 4: just we need to put that all aside and just
- 20:02Speaker 4: really reconnect as humans, and I just I don't think
- 20:06Speaker 4: we do that enough, and it's just getting worse.
- 20:09Speaker 3: And the kids now, I mean, I can't even imagine
- 20:13Speaker 3: being a kid now. Like it's just it's too much,
- 20:16Speaker 3: too much.
- 20:18Speaker 2: Now, do you all have any rules in your relationship?
- 20:21Speaker 2: Some people like, for instance, one of the rules that
- 20:23Speaker 2: you hear all the time is.
- 20:24Speaker 5: We never go to bed angry.
- 20:26Speaker 2: Or we never curse when we're upset with each other,
- 20:30Speaker 2: or we'll never threaten to leave or end the relationship
- 20:35Speaker 2: in an argument. Do you all have any of those
- 20:37Speaker 2: types of boundaries or rules in your relationship.
- 20:41Speaker 7: It's never been a set rule, but it just kind
- 20:44Speaker 7: of came naturally where, especially when he's gone out of
- 20:50Speaker 7: town or whatever, we call each other's sa good night
- 20:53Speaker 7: every single night. There has maybe there's been one because
- 20:57Speaker 7: of something that happened, you know, like he was somewhere
- 21:00Speaker 7: there was no reception, like on a cruise or something
- 21:04Speaker 7: that they do. But but besides that, every single night
- 21:08Speaker 7: we'll say good night, I love you, yeah, And so
- 21:11Speaker 7: that that's been a constant.
- 21:14Speaker 6: What do you all think about that idea of some
- 21:17Speaker 6: say they refuse to go to bed angry.
- 21:20Speaker 1: Some therapists will tell you that's a bad idea. What
- 21:23Speaker 1: do you all think about it?
- 21:25Speaker 3: No, I don't think you should go to bed angry.
- 21:27Speaker 4: I mean, and it's it's just you deal with what's
- 21:31Speaker 4: making you angry, you know, talk about it. There's no
- 21:36Speaker 4: reason in the world you have to be angry. I mean,
- 21:39Speaker 4: life is short, so you know, work it out. Communication
- 21:43Speaker 4: is key, and.
- 21:46Speaker 7: Yeah, you're gonna carry it on the next day. And
- 21:48Speaker 7: then it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger,
- 21:50Speaker 7: even if it's not. You don't have to say like, oh,
- 21:53Speaker 7: I'm sorry and communicate, maybe even just a physical touch
- 21:58Speaker 7: before saying you know what, before you know, before you
- 22:01Speaker 7: take good night, just a touch or a kiss saying
- 22:04Speaker 7: you know it's gonna be okay. You know, it doesn't
- 22:07Speaker 7: have to be well for us. It doesn't have to
- 22:08Speaker 7: be a big conversation if it's not too big.
- 22:11Speaker 2: But what I'm just curious because it doesn't sound like
- 22:15Speaker 2: you all fight very often, which is pretty awesome, that's remarkable.
- 22:19Speaker 2: But if and when you do, what is it typically over?
- 22:22Speaker 2: Do you have a theme or something that you go
- 22:26Speaker 2: back to, or is it just silly kind of stuff
- 22:28Speaker 2: that you can easily let go.
- 22:30Speaker 7: Yeah, it's it's it's like silly stuff and it's.
- 22:35Speaker 3: Yeah, it'll be something.
- 22:37Speaker 7: Let's say he'll leave clothes on the floor instead of
- 22:40Speaker 7: the hamper, you know, right, the hamper's right there, all
- 22:43Speaker 7: the dirty clothes.
- 22:44Speaker 3: A wreck.
- 22:45Speaker 7: So it's like, you know, it's like really it's right there,
- 22:48Speaker 7: you know. But stuff like that, it's it's it's stuff
- 22:51Speaker 7: that you can get over.
- 22:54Speaker 3: But yeah, it's tiny little stuff like that. There's quirks, no,
- 22:57Speaker 3: and it is pretty amazing.
- 22:59Speaker 4: And you know, we tell friends and they think we're crazy,
- 23:03Speaker 4: but really we don't argue, we don't disagree.
- 23:08Speaker 3: It's it's really this is a match made in heaven.
- 23:10Speaker 4: It's been the most amazing eighteen years of being together
- 23:16Speaker 4: as a couple, you know, but still having our separate
- 23:20Speaker 4: lives and just loving and respecting and understanding each other
- 23:26Speaker 4: and working through issues.
- 23:29Speaker 3: I mean, I don't I don't know.
- 23:32Speaker 7: It's you would have to like punch me or through me,
- 23:36Speaker 7: like like for it to be like all right now.
- 23:38Speaker 3: It's a fight.
- 23:39Speaker 1: You know, I think I might know.
- 23:42Speaker 6: This might this next question that we asked every couple
- 23:44Speaker 6: seems silly now they don't have a lot of issues.
- 23:46Speaker 6: But what do you all think about the idea of
- 23:48Speaker 6: couples therapy and have you all ever gone to it?
- 23:53Speaker 4: I've gone to a lot of individual therapy, and I
- 23:58Speaker 4: think by doing that, I have avoided couple's therapy.
- 24:02Speaker 5: I think that's amazing.
- 24:04Speaker 7: Yes, yeah, and I believe in it. Yeah, I mean
- 24:10Speaker 7: I think at the very beginning it's probably not necessary.
- 24:15Speaker 7: I think, if you if you know the red flags
- 24:17Speaker 7: and you know you could deal with all right, this
- 24:20Speaker 7: is not the right person, we don't have to really
- 24:22Speaker 7: go to therapy just but I think down the line
- 24:24Speaker 7: in a relationship, I think definitely, you know, because people
- 24:28Speaker 7: do change, they evolve and to different people, and maybe
- 24:32Speaker 7: you need a therapist to bring it back.
- 24:35Speaker 4: And I think you get in a routine where you
- 24:39Speaker 4: don't even realize you know your bad behaviors or you
- 24:44Speaker 4: know the way you're reacting to your spouse, and then
- 24:48Speaker 4: it just escalates and just gets worse and worse. So then, yeah,
- 24:53Speaker 4: therapy is good. I think everybody had some therapy.
- 24:56Speaker 7: Yeah, have you?
- 24:58Speaker 2: And again, doesn't sound like you all fight off And
- 25:00Speaker 2: but have there been any aha moments or any great
- 25:04Speaker 2: lessons learned about yourself through having any kind of disagreement
- 25:09Speaker 2: with the person who you love, this person who you
- 25:11Speaker 2: want to spend the rest of your life with. We
- 25:14Speaker 2: often talk about being a mirror, like if you really
- 25:17Speaker 2: love someone, you can see yourself in a way you
- 25:18Speaker 2: didn't before, when you see yourself reflected from the person
- 25:22Speaker 2: you love, especially when things aren't going great. Have you
- 25:25Speaker 2: learned any lessons as you all have evolved together?
- 25:33Speaker 3: We need to start fighting?
- 25:36Speaker 7: Yeah, this is this is.
- 25:39Speaker 3: All foreign to me.
- 25:40Speaker 5: That's amazing.
- 25:44Speaker 4: Now I'm like, I want to I want to hear
- 25:46Speaker 4: the other couples. Yeah, now, any lessons. I mean, I think.
- 25:59Speaker 3: That this is top.
- 26:00Speaker 2: But I would say if you had had other it
- 26:03Speaker 2: sounds like you, especially Jonathan, may have had other relationships
- 26:07Speaker 2: that weren't like the one you have with Harley. Maybe
- 26:11Speaker 2: even going through those, what you've learned to appreciate about
- 26:16Speaker 2: Harley and about and vice versa Harley, about that, maybe
- 26:20Speaker 2: you wouldn't have had you not gone through tougher times
- 26:23Speaker 2: in other relationships.
- 26:24Speaker 4: Yeah, well, you know, I think you know, we're all
- 26:27Speaker 4: on a journey in life.
- 26:29Speaker 3: We all have our own separate journeys.
- 26:33Speaker 4: Then you put two couples together and you know we
- 26:37Speaker 4: are on a journey together, but we're also individuals and
- 26:39Speaker 4: we also have, you know, our own journey. If he
- 26:43Speaker 4: wants to go to Paris for the week with friends,
- 26:48Speaker 4: and I'm kind of like, I don't want to, you know,
- 26:51Speaker 4: I'm going to allow him to take the journeys on
- 26:54Speaker 4: his life and in the paths and not hold him
- 26:57Speaker 4: back and not not hold a grudge or feel left out,
- 27:04Speaker 4: you know, And he does the same for me. It's like,
- 27:09Speaker 4: you live separate lives, but you also have to live.
- 27:12Speaker 4: You you live separate lives, but you also live.
- 27:16Speaker 3: I hope I'm making sense. You live together. You just
- 27:19Speaker 3: have to let your spouse have a life.
- 27:22Speaker 7: Yeah, And when you're saying about mirroring. One thing I've
- 27:25Speaker 7: learned is is sometimes I guess you're you're maturity in
- 27:29Speaker 7: a relationship. Sometimes you think like you want to blame
- 27:33Speaker 7: the other person for for something, and then and then
- 27:37Speaker 7: I have to take a step back and go, this
- 27:40Speaker 7: is something that's it's me, not that that person's living
- 27:43Speaker 7: their life. So what is it about me that that
- 27:46Speaker 7: that's bothering?
- 27:47Speaker 1: You know?
- 27:47Speaker 7: I mean I've learned that through not even therapy, but
- 27:51Speaker 7: online stuff. Online therapy, I guess the things you hear. So,
- 27:55Speaker 7: so I've learned, like, you know, he's doing his thing
- 27:58Speaker 7: that shouldn't offend me. What's wrong with the way I'm
- 28:03Speaker 7: thinking about it?
- 28:04Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
- 28:04Speaker 7: Like, so, so I've learned that as we've gone along,
- 28:08Speaker 7: something like bothers me. I'm like, no, he's he's just
- 28:11Speaker 7: living his life. He's doing the right thing. Something that's
- 28:14Speaker 7: wrong with that I have to deal with? So or
- 28:17Speaker 7: not deal with?
- 28:18Speaker 3: Work on?
- 28:28Speaker 6: Where would you say, what's the role of friendship in
- 28:31Speaker 6: your relationship? We always asked she and I were literally
- 28:34Speaker 6: best friends for years before we ever started dating. And
- 28:37Speaker 6: I know friendships can develop after romantic relationships start, But
- 28:40Speaker 6: where where's friendship play into ule's romantic your marriage?
- 28:45Speaker 1: If you will?
- 28:46Speaker 7: Yeah, Well, we always say it's funny because the whole
- 28:49Speaker 7: best friend thing. We have our our we don't call
- 28:53Speaker 7: each other best friends. You know, we're we have we
- 28:56Speaker 7: have our relationship, and but we have of our best friends.
- 29:00Speaker 7: There's stuff that we don't tell each other that we
- 29:03Speaker 7: tell our best friends. You know what I mean, There's
- 29:05Speaker 7: there's different we tell each other stuff, but not every
- 29:08Speaker 7: single thing. In that it's almost like your parents. Sometimes
- 29:13Speaker 7: you're not your best friend with your parents. No, but
- 29:15Speaker 7: do you have a role a different role different?
- 29:18Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 29:19Speaker 4: Well it's it's like like parents sometimes when they're like, oh,
- 29:23Speaker 4: I'm best friends with my kids. No, you are there.
- 29:26Speaker 4: You're the parent and they're the kids. You know, I
- 29:32Speaker 4: mean with with friendly.
- 29:34Speaker 1: But did that come out right?
- 29:40Speaker 5: I love that. That's hilarious.
- 29:42Speaker 2: And in terms of like time apart, I know, Jonathan,
- 29:47Speaker 2: you are about to do a Las Vegas residency right, yes.
- 29:51Speaker 5: How long is that supposed to last? And how are
- 29:53Speaker 5: you all handling that?
- 29:55Speaker 4: The Vegas residency is super easy. It's better than tour,
- 30:00Speaker 4: you know, tour. I'll get on a bus and I
- 30:03Speaker 4: won't be home for three months.
- 30:06Speaker 3: Vegas two weeks in and out when we're done. So,
- 30:10Speaker 3: you know, the past couple of years doing Vegas has
- 30:13Speaker 3: just been amazing. You know, it's like you're there, then
- 30:17Speaker 3: you get to come home.
- 30:19Speaker 7: And then I'll go out and visit or something for
- 30:21Speaker 7: a few days. Yeah, so you don't never go more
- 30:25Speaker 7: than a month pretty much when he's on the road
- 30:28Speaker 7: or doing something that I'll go out and yeah, it's
- 30:31Speaker 7: ever been more than a month.
- 30:32Speaker 6: So which helps and felts not as a matter of
- 30:35Speaker 6: being critical, of any other couple and how they do it.
- 30:38Speaker 6: But a lot of people look at successful couples they
- 30:41Speaker 6: want to know how they do it, and they also
- 30:42Speaker 6: want to know what they're doing wrong. So if you
- 30:44Speaker 6: will cam for a moment for couples who are listening,
- 30:47Speaker 6: who want a long relationship that doesn't fight, like you
- 30:51Speaker 6: will do, what is it you will see in other relationships,
- 30:54Speaker 6: maybe one's close to you from a distance, what mistakes
- 30:58Speaker 6: do you see other couple making? And you go if
- 31:01Speaker 6: they would, just if they would, just do you see
- 31:04Speaker 6: kind of a theme these days of relationships that if
- 31:07Speaker 6: you could talk to all of them, you would say, hey, guys,
- 31:10Speaker 6: be careful of.
- 31:12Speaker 7: What Yeah, I see in some couples, like I don't
- 31:16Speaker 7: know if you'd considered microaggression, but little things that you're
- 31:22Speaker 7: a dinner and in one one person will say to
- 31:24Speaker 7: the other little like little jabs.
- 31:26Speaker 3: So those little.
- 31:27Speaker 7: Jabs like there's something there's truth to that, you know,
- 31:31Speaker 7: I would say, either talk it out or just because
- 31:36Speaker 7: we respect each each other, you know. So so I
- 31:41Speaker 7: think mutual respect, if you can find it in each other,
- 31:44Speaker 7: would be really important. I would recommend, But that's just
- 31:51Speaker 7: my thing. Some some are not meant to be, you.
- 31:54Speaker 4: Know, yeah, no, And I mean I think I think
- 31:57Speaker 4: communication is a really really big thing. And I think,
- 32:01Speaker 4: you know, sometimes couples are afraid to communicate their feelings
- 32:05Speaker 4: and they just hold it inside, and then it just
- 32:08Speaker 4: builds up. If you can really just express how you
- 32:11Speaker 4: feel in the moment or in a situation and just figure.
- 32:17Speaker 7: It out, yeah, it becomes passive aggressive. Passive aggressive comments
- 32:22Speaker 7: are sometimes okay if there's something bigger there going on,
- 32:25Speaker 7: you know.
- 32:26Speaker 1: A lot of times involved.
- 32:28Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- 32:31Speaker 2: No one likes to hang out with the Bickersons, just
- 32:33Speaker 2: the little verbal jobs that constantly happen. Do you all
- 32:38Speaker 2: make any specific effort to keep the spark alive? Do
- 32:42Speaker 2: you have to make any special effort to keep the
- 32:46Speaker 2: spark alive?
- 32:46Speaker 5: After eighteen years.
- 32:49Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, every every day, every day, I think
- 32:52Speaker 3: is every day is a look at this man. Every
- 32:56Speaker 3: day is a spark.
- 33:00Speaker 7: We got, like, we'll go on vacations because you know,
- 33:03Speaker 7: sometimes like you need to get away with each other,
- 33:07Speaker 7: you know, to get away from the daily thing. So
- 33:11Speaker 7: you know, we will try to take trips every you know,
- 33:14Speaker 7: a couple of times a year as much as we can.
- 33:17Speaker 7: But and I think that that keeps some of it alive,
- 33:23Speaker 7: like the mundane, because you get into it, you get
- 33:27Speaker 7: to the same rituals, the same you know, patterns. And
- 33:32Speaker 7: they were like, all right, we need to get out
- 33:33Speaker 7: of here. We need some vacation time. Yeah, so that's
- 33:36Speaker 7: a good time that we get away. Things are different
- 33:39Speaker 7: and it brings back to us, back to like almost
- 33:42Speaker 7: when we were at the beginning, you know, like something new.
- 33:45Speaker 7: Seeing new things around us too, keeps.
- 33:48Speaker 3: Fresh a little short honeymoons.
- 33:50Speaker 7: Yeah, exactly.
- 33:52Speaker 5: What would you say?
- 33:54Speaker 2: This sounds like an obvious generic question, but this will
- 33:57Speaker 2: kind of wrap it up with this. People look at
- 34:00Speaker 2: a couple like you, and to TJ's point, they were like,
- 34:04Speaker 2: we want to know how to be more like you
- 34:07Speaker 2: or how to have a relationship like you. What would
- 34:09Speaker 2: you say The key is to your relationship magic, your
- 34:14Speaker 2: relationship success. Can you sum it up in any way now?
- 34:21Speaker 3: I still do so?
- 34:23Speaker 4: No, No, No, I think I think I think we're
- 34:29Speaker 4: just both to very laid back people that we don't
- 34:33Speaker 4: get rattled much. But also, you know, we make a
- 34:38Speaker 4: point of not rattling each other.
- 34:41Speaker 7: Yeah, I would say, try not to change the other person.
- 34:46Speaker 7: That's one thing that a lot of people going into
- 34:50Speaker 7: relationship they already have these expectations of this, this and this,
- 34:55Speaker 7: and it's it's not it's not real. So for me,
- 34:58Speaker 7: it's just you know, not expectations, but not really high ones,
- 35:03Speaker 7: and just yeah, get understanding each other and knowing that
- 35:08Speaker 7: I'm not going to change them. I love them for
- 35:10Speaker 7: who they are. They have their quirks and like, you know,
- 35:12Speaker 7: this gets on my nerves. But besides that, it's let them,
- 35:17Speaker 7: let them be. I'm gonna be me, He's going to
- 35:19Speaker 7: be him.
- 35:20Speaker 3: And yeah, well, I mean I think that goes back
- 35:22Speaker 3: to the whole thing.
- 35:23Speaker 4: Like we're on a journey as a couple, but we're
- 35:25Speaker 4: also on journeys individually.
- 35:27Speaker 3: So you you know, you have to you have to
- 35:30Speaker 3: live your life.
- 35:32Speaker 1: Well, we you all have made our jobs so easy.
- 35:35Speaker 1: We always we have to do it.
- 35:36Speaker 6: Write up to attack, introduce these This is going to
- 35:40Speaker 6: be easy. The most loving and boring couple you will
- 35:45Speaker 6: ever hear from. You know, it's cool, Look that's awesome.
- 35:53Speaker 6: Look exciting is dangerous. Sometimes boring is great.
- 35:57Speaker 5: I'm telling you.
- 35:57Speaker 2: You get like, yes, when you get to a certain age, you're.
- 36:02Speaker 5: Like, hallelujah, I want peace. I'll take boring.
- 36:07Speaker 2: I just want Yeah, loving and boring sounds like heaven
- 36:11Speaker 2: to me. So I hear you, We hear you. Once
- 36:15Speaker 2: you've lived enough life, isn't that like the goal the
- 36:19Speaker 2: dream to understand?
- 36:20Speaker 7: Yes?
- 36:21Speaker 3: Yes, no, you know, And I look at my life.
- 36:24Speaker 4: You know, I was thrown into an adult situation at
- 36:28Speaker 4: a very young age, and I learned to like navigate
- 36:32Speaker 4: the bs and know who's the bs er.
- 36:39Speaker 3: So yeah, you just I don't know where I'm going
- 36:41Speaker 3: with this.
- 36:42Speaker 7: But when you're younger, yeah, you you want an excitement
- 36:46Speaker 7: and this and that and that and yeah, like you're saying, like, no,
- 36:50Speaker 7: I want to stay in you.
- 36:51Speaker 2: Know, don't.
- 36:52Speaker 7: It's maybe it's an age thing.
- 36:56Speaker 2: It's like y'all aren't even Netflix and chilling though you're
- 36:59Speaker 2: just five place and talking.
- 37:01Speaker 5: I mean, that's a whole other level. I'm impressed. We're
- 37:04Speaker 5: both very impressed. But Jonathan and Harley, thank you so much.
- 37:09Speaker 2: This, by the way, just seriously, because this is something
- 37:12Speaker 2: we really appreciate. We know a lot of people and
- 37:14Speaker 2: we understand why don't really want to pull back the
- 37:17Speaker 2: curtains into their private lives, into their love lives, because
- 37:20Speaker 2: then you open yourself up for scrutiny and people judging.
- 37:24Speaker 2: So but it's so helpful to see people who have
- 37:28Speaker 2: figured it out and made it work and been in
- 37:31Speaker 2: crazy situations and been in the positions you all are
- 37:35Speaker 2: in and still found a way to make it work,
- 37:38Speaker 2: and so we can all learn from you. And we
- 37:41Speaker 2: just appreciate you opening up and being vulnerable and being
- 37:44Speaker 2: honest and letting us in.
- 37:46Speaker 5: So thank you both, and we are.
- 37:48Speaker 2: So excited to cheer your love on eighteen years in counting,
- 37:53Speaker 2: you know, and I.
- 37:54Speaker 3: Love that, the whole vulnerability thing. I mean, so many,
- 37:57Speaker 3: like you said, so many people are so afraid of it.
- 38:01Speaker 4: Maybe it's just at my age, like I don't care anymore,
- 38:04Speaker 4: Like you got to live your life.
- 38:06Speaker 3: And we're all.
- 38:07Speaker 4: Human, we all have we all have our things, and
- 38:11Speaker 4: you know, just everybody joined together. And if you hear
- 38:16Speaker 4: something you know somebody else is going through this, you're like, oh,
- 38:19Speaker 4: I went through that, you know. Just be be together,
- 38:23Speaker 4: support each other and just know none of us are perfect.
- 38:27Speaker 4: We're all just humans on our journey and support that's
- 38:32Speaker 4: that's what one.
- 38:33Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 38:35Speaker 2: Well, Jonathan and Harley Knight Rodriguez, thank you for being
- 38:38Speaker 2: with us.
- 38:39Speaker 5: We appreciate you, guys.
- 38:41Speaker 7: Thank you, guys, all right, thank you.
- 38:44Speaker 1: Really, thank you so much for this.
- 38:46Speaker 3: Yeah, Valentine's this, this is.
- 38:48Speaker 1: Really really cool you all.
- 38:49Speaker 6: I think the only other couple it's well, a couple
- 38:52Speaker 6: been together longer. We had a couple of all that
- 38:55Speaker 6: was married. They've been married seventy five years. He's ninety nine,
- 38:58Speaker 6: she's ninety six. So it's cool. It's just such a
- 39:02Speaker 6: diversity of couples, and it's the responses are amazing and
- 39:05Speaker 6: everybody is gonna feel seen in listening to these. So
- 39:09Speaker 6: we are learning a lot from couples because we could
- 39:11Speaker 6: always improve our relationship. So trust me, you all said
- 39:14Speaker 6: plenty that we can apply to our own relationship. Enough
- 39:16Speaker 6: fellas for this, really thank you, thanks, thank you guys.
- 39:19Speaker 7: All right, all right,