That Time I Used Glenn Beck’s Bathroom and Did Not Catch Ebola

I know you are curious about how our trip went, right? 

First of all, let me just say that Glenn Beck and his whole staff were lovely, kind, and generous, and I’m pretty sure none of them have Ebola. 

They are also located in Dallas, which I did not know before this whole ordeal, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about flying there in the middle of the whole Ebola thing. However, after being assured by a reader who lives in that area that I would be fine as long as I didn’t lick anyone, I was feeling much better about the idea. 

Do not lick Glenn Beck. Noted. 

So Monday Meredith and I boarded a plane and we flew off to Dallas to be part of a panel of women from across North America who were going to be live on the show to discuss the sexualization of clothing for young girls, which you already know is a topic that is very important to me. (If you are new here, this is why.) 

We had no idea what to expect, so we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted at the airport by our own driver. 

We felt super fancy. Meredith made me pose for this picture. 

We didn’t get in until late Monday evening, so we just ordered room service for dinner, watched tv, and went to sleep in our own beds in our own rooms- which is pretty much Heaven on Earth when you are a mom with young kids.  

The next day we did not have to be on the set until the afternoon, so we just hung out in the hotel, ordered more food, and obsessed a little too much about what we were going to wear.

A very sweet lady from Meredith’s prayer group had emailed several Bible verses with personalized messages for us, so we read them out loud and prayed together in my hotel room.

Then it was time to leave for the studio. We met Dr. Janni Aragon and Pam Rocker in the car that took us to the studio. 

Once we got there, they showed us to our own dressing room, which we were totally not expecting. 

 I don’t know what we were expecting, but it was not this: 

Here is Meredith partaking in the fancy pants sparkling water. (Yes, she is wearing a different dress than she wore on the show. We both decided to change at the last minute.)

We were also feeling very spoiled by the fact that we had our own bathroom in our dressing room. 

Do you know why you need to bring your best friend with you for tv interviews whenever possible? Because somebody has to be there to hold the microphone cord when you decide you have to pee after you are already mic’ed up. (After you double check with the sound guy that no one is listening to that channel and text a friend who is a producer to triple check and make sure it is really ok.) 

We got dolled up by the make up team.

I totally geeked out and was too shy to talk to Abigail Jones from Newsweek while she was siting next to me in makeup. But she turned out to be a very kind soul and she actually came to our dressing room  to introduce herself and talk to us for a while. 

Obviously, all of that was a lot of fun and a very cool experience, but the truth of the matter is that we were there to do important work and raise awareness. 

So, at 4pm Central Time, we walked onto the set and met Glenn Beck and the crew told us where we would each be sitting. After only about a 5 minute introduction, we just dove right in and all of a sudden we were on live tv having a very important discussion in front of a live audience full of moms. 

I want to sincerely thank Glenn Beck and his entire crew. They worked very hard for weeks to put this panel together and I feel like this was a very important show. My favorite part of the whole day was when Glenn’s daughter came up to us afterwards and shook our hands and told us how much it meant to her that we were there. I was honored to be part of this special experience. 

If you were not able to catch the live version of the show, The Blaze has put a few clips up on their YouTube Channel. You can watch them here, and make sure that you are following along on the Binkies and Briefcases Facebook page because I am not done with this topic, and I am excited to share an even bigger project with you very soon!