#222 Valentine's Day Misadventures and Meaningful Celebrations with Jay Webster

Picture this: it's Valentine's Day 1997, you've just snagged a speeding ticket, run into your youth group while watching Titanic, and the film's tragic ending is the cherry on top of your misadventure sundae. Join us as Jay Webster, the witty author of "You Don't Have to Read This," brings his comical calamity to life on The Scott Townsend Show. We unravel the societal pressures and commercial expectations that can turn this day of love into a stress-fest. Instead of succumbing to the chaos, Jay's tale inspires us to explore more meaningful and unconventional ways to celebrate with loved ones.

As your trusty host, I, Scott Townsend, am sending a big, virtual hug to all our listeners out there. Your engagement keeps this podcast thriving, and I warmly invite you to share your thoughts, reviews, and even the questions that keep you up at night. Whether you're a veteran listener or a fresh face in our community, your support lights up our studio. As we bask in the Valentine's spirit, remember we're all about creating connections and sharing laughter. Stay tuned for more heartwarming and hilarious stories, all brought to you by The Scott Townsend Show, a Deetsoman Production.

Chapters

• 0:00 Valentine's Day Traditions and Anecdotes
• 11:55 Keep in Touch With Fans

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Scott Townsend Show brought to you by Pizza man Productions.

Speaker 2: 0:07

Hello Scott, let me just begin by saying I've always been really terrible at Valentine's Day. My wife, anjanette, loves all holidays. She treats them all like huge celebrations. She treats them all like huge celebrations and I have always just felt a tremendous amount of pressure on Valentine's Day to try and come up with something that was meaningful or that would seem sincere or whatever, and I always feel like a dismal failure. And I I think that now, you know, 32 years in with my wife, um, through a series of unintentional, just utter failures, I think I've set the bar pretty low. So there's really not much expectation anymore.

Speaker 2: 0:56

But back in 1997, we had only been married for like four years, and so I was still trying to prove that I could be the romantic that I I hoped I would be and all that stuff. And so anyway, for those who don't remember, 1997 was also the year that the movie Titanic came out, and all the trailers and all the push for that movie had shown it to be this epic love story and I thought thought, ok, this is it, let's do this. I made reservations at a restaurant we were going to go to Tulsa, which is about, you know, 45 minutes away, or an hour away at the time because of the speed limit had not changed on the highway yet. And so I made all the arrangements, got a reservation for a restaurant, planned out the tickets and all that kind of stuff, and we of course left town late and so I managed to get a speeding ticket on the way to the restaurant reservation and that was about $100 even back then and, yeah, rushed through the meal and dinner and all that to make sure that we got to the theater on time because we knew it would be jam-packed, because the movie was exploding and every time every showing was just full.

Speaker 2: 2:16

And so we finally get to the theater and as we walk in I just noticed I started seeing a lot of familiar faces. And, to make it worse, the familiar faces that I was seeing were all kids from the youth group at the church that we were going to, and so they had all. I mean, the movie was huge and they all knew that it was going to be a big deal, and so we got seated and tried to sit away from all the youth group kids that we knew in the room. And then hopefully there's no spoiler here, but as the movie goes on, there's also a pretty tremendous love scene with full on nudity and all that. So yeah, you can imagine just sitting in a theater next to kids from your youth group and just boobs being on a giant screen, and it was just a whole lot.

Speaker 2: 3:15

And then three hours later the boat sinks and finally, mercifully, the credits rolled and all the romance had left the air in the theater and it was just tragic. And then I just thought to myself well, what was I expecting? It's Titanic. You know the ending. They're not rewriting it. It doesn't all of a sudden reach New York and everybody has a great day. It's going to sink and much like my Valentine did. So anyway, I have a long history of bad Valentines, but that's probably the worst. So a speeding ticket, nudity in front of the youth group and a sinking ship, and then at least an hour drive home after all that, and that was the Valentine day of 1997.

Speaker 3: 4:19

That was Jay Webster. He's been on the podcast before he wrote the book. You don't have to read this. He's been on the podcast before he wrote the book. You don't have to read this. He's a great storyteller, has an article in the Bartlesville magazine once a month, and yeah, so I asked him to share a Valentine's Day story because I knew he would have one, and so I really appreciate that, jay. And don't worry about giving away the ending at the end of titanic. I think we all know what happened. But yeah, that's hilarious.

Speaker 3: 4:52

Uh, nudity, youth group, a ticket and a three-hour movie, that's yeah. By the time you walk out of the movie, people are bawling. We went to go see Titanic. There was one person in that theater that was inconsolable. Anyway, they were just boohooing. The whole mood in that theater was just ravaged. It's sad and horrified and a sense of loss and tragedy, but it's a good movie and that's what it was intended to do. So, james Cameron, good job. But yeah, it's probably not the best movie to go to on Valentine's Day. It is if you stop in the middle of it, but if you go all the way to the end, man, you are in for a ride as far as Valentine's Day goes, I don't like Valentine's Day or any other holiday where I have to perform.

Speaker 3: 6:11

What I mean by that is there's this expectation that corporations Hallmark and chocolate companies and candy companies have conjured up and just promoted and scaled over the years. The expectation is that you need to perform, you need to get in on this, you need to get the candy for Halloween, you need to get the cards and candy and dinner reservations, and so you go to a dinner reservation on Valentine's Day, which is the worst day to go out to eat because everybody else is doing the same thing, so there's no enjoyment there. If you ask anybody in the restaurant business if they enjoy working on Valentine's Day or what was the other one? There was another holiday. That's just murder. Anyway, I know Valentine's Day, but Easter I think it is. It's tough man People. You're turning those tables and you're working hard on valentine's day.

Speaker 3: 7:18

There's a lot of pent-up, emotion and stress and it's not my idea of a good time. So we don't go out to eat because, unless you went in on all of that, it's probably best to stay away. So if the whole crowd's going this way, I like to go this way. If they're going. All right, I want to go left, because that means I have to deal with less people, less crowds, less stress. So generally, on holidays I'm all for doing something else, or if not, if nothing at all, that's not to say I'm not about promoting love and my relationship for and with my wife. Uh, I heard a uh story about Jack Benny, the old-time radio comedian, something that he did after he died for his wife, mary Livingston, and when I heard this I was like, wow, that is really great. That is so intentional, so purposeful and anyway. So just take a listen to it and we'll come right back.

Speaker 4: 8:35

And his final appearance on television that's this photograph was in 1974 in a television special, and that was the year he died, 1974. Mary Livingston died nine years later, in 1983. And here is the capper to their lifelong love story and marriage of almost 50 years. After Jack Benny's death, a florist delivered one long-stemmed red rose to Mary Every day For the rest of her life. In Mary Livingston's words I learned that Jack actually had included a provision in his will that one red stem, the red rose, would be delivered to me every day for the rest of my life.

Speaker 3: 9:22

So, yeah, that was. That's just so awesome. And I, when I heard that and I decided that I want to do something like that. I can't afford to send a rose every day for a very long time, if even just a short time, but I could do a rose a week. So I arranged for our florist to deliver a long-stemmed red rose to my wife, either here at the house or at the school where she works, and I've been doing that for several years now and it's a I love doing that. She has not tired of getting the rose on Fridays. Her friends all ooh and ah every time she gets one. They all know she's going to get one next Friday, but they still act like it's the first time they've ever seen someone do something like that.

Speaker 3: 10:26

So we do Valentine's all year. We do Valentine's all year Once a week, just a good little reminder, and that works for us. So on Valentine's Day everybody else is freaking out and getting cards and candy and doing what everybody else is doing, not because they love their wife or husband or significant other partner, it's because there's this expectation and then the other party gets mad if they don't get something. You know. So blah, blah, blah. So we just do our own thing, but we do it every week for 50, 52 weeks in the year and we like it that way. So there's my Valentine's Day story, and I hope you have a good Valentine's Day, whether you're going out to eat or you've carved out a tradition for yourself. Forget the masses, forget the crowd, do your thing.

Speaker 3: 11:30

Do you Celebrate Valentine's in August? And why do it once a year? Well, it's because you know corporate America wants you to spend that money, baby. So actually I do better than that. I spend it all year. That's it Valentine's. Happy Valentine's Day. I hope you love the show. Speaking of love, if you do like the show, let me know. Scott at ScottTownsendinfo. Leave a review, write a comment, ask me a question. If you have a question, I really appreciate the fans that we have and would love to interact with you fans that we have and would love to interact with you. And if there's something that you need to know or have a question about something I've said or a guest has said, I'd love to hear from you and answer that question. You guys have a great. I really appreciate you guys and appreciate the fans that we have, our small little fan base of family, and friends and a few strangers out there not strangers.

Speaker 3: 12:39

You're fans of the scott townsend show, so you're not a stranger. Um, tell friends about it, share it like it, subscribe. You got the. You know the. You know the drill. So anyway, for valentine's day, this is scott townsend. Have a great day, everything's gonna be all right and we'll talk to you later the scott townsend show is a deets o man production.

Speaker 1: 13:03

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