Our Visit to see Dave Ramsey

7

January 8, 2013 by Will Ray

As most of you know, last Wednesday we visited Dave Ramsey’s offices in Brentwood, Tennessee.  We went to be on the show (as he does for many newly-debt-free followers) for the occasion of celebrating Nancy and I paying off our house, which we did last month!

We’ll both be sharing a lot about this experience and how exactly we did it, so be sure to keep an eye out here and on Nancy’s blog for our unique perspectives.  For today, I want to just re-cap the day we visited the show.

When we got up that morning, the last morning of our trip to Nashville for the holidays, Nancy was feeling pretty bad.  So bad, in fact, we were worried how she would make it out the door at one point!

I took some time that morning to review some notes that we had made, and I wrote a journal entry about how the day was finally here that we would celebrate.

Nancy was able to pull herself together beautifully, as she always does, and we were out the door, arriving a half hour early.  We’ve visited the offices before there in Brentwood, and have gotten to know a few of his staff in working with them for FPU, going to some live events, etc.

An aside: If you ever go to Nashville or are in the Brentwood area, Dave broadcasts live from that location almost every weekday.  From the lobby, you can watch him do the show live, stop by at the bookshop, and enjoy complimentary coffee and refreshments.

Ok, so getting there was really no big deal, since we’ve been there before, but as soon as we get into the parking lot, we both became very nervous, and Nancy started crying.  It was hitting us, that all we had worked for and saved for and sacrificed for was coming true. Plus, actually paying the loan off at the bank was a bit anti-climactic (more on that day to come later).

We rehearsed our notes the last time, and Nancy’s mom said a prayer while we both cried just a bit (she lives in Nashville and rode with us to the studios).  We headed inside to be greeted by Martha Thompson, the “Director of an Exceptional Guest Experience” at his offices.  She runs the gift and coffee shop.  Much thanks to her and my sister Jess for the pictures in this post.

Shortly after we arrived, my mom, sister, brother and sister-in-law also walked in, as they came to Nashville for a time with us for a little vacation.  It was truly special to have a bunch of family surround and celebrate with us.

Dave did an introductory segment to start off the year in broadcasting, and we were on after the 1:15 break.  The lobby has glass on either side, so while standing in the gift shop on one side we could see Dave doing the show across the lobby.

Let me tell ya, you get pretty nervous right before going on the radio before as many as 4 or 5 million people.

Nancy making a brilliant point during the show

We didn’t get to express everything that we had practiced, but we think the call went pretty well, overall.  Take a listen if you can spare the time:

Wwweeeeee’rrrrreee Ddeeeebbbtt Ffrreeeeeee!

Debt Free Scream Video (20 seconds):

Many, many thanks to Dave Ramsey and his team for having us on the show!  It was a day we won’t forget.