Josh and Jim's Favorite Moments from The Heirloom Podcast
We like to think of The Heirloom Podcast as a conversation with you, sitting on the porch, telling stories about Laurel, about legacy, about what’s been built and what still lies ahead. As we look back on the episodes released so far, here are a few moments that have stuck with us, and why they matter.
One line we’ve returned to often is something Jim says: “Nothing is better than a life of utmost diligence.” That’s more than a phrase, it’s a guiding lens for how we try to walk through each day, whether we’re hammering nails, talking through a design, or just doing the work in front of us.
It echoes the idea we explored in What Is Your Legacy? That legacy isn’t just about grand gestures or big finishing moves. It’s often in the imperfect mornings and the ways we respond when things don’t go to plan. Like building something in the wood shop: you draw the sketch, pick the wood, plan how it should go but then “absolutely nothing goes according to plan.” And in wrestling through that, sometimes something even better emerges.
One of our favorite episodes in terms of reflecting on how we got started was HGTV Was Never the Plan. Before any of us had cameras in mind, we were a few folks sitting in lofts over empty storefronts, dreaming that Laurel’s story wasn’t finished. In that episode, we remember “trying to make something beautiful out of what everyone else had given up on.”
When we revisit that time, we’re always struck by the tension of hope and uncertainty. Before the TV show, before the network, before things picked up there was faith, friendship, little victories, and a lot of nights when it felt like we were building by the seat of our pants. And yet, those small, imperfect steps are exactly the foundations now holding up everything we see.
And somewhere along the way, all of those stories become personal. The mother's and our, most definite, "better halves" reminded us in the Home Town Mother's episode that this podcast wasn’t meant to be a museum of Laurel’s past, it’s meant to be alive. Because it's what we're doing each day, in the trenches, that shapes our families, our very own legacies.
When we hear a guest talk about a memory, or recall a lost building, or lean into their family history, we realize this is the same legacy we’re part of. So as listeners walk away from each episode, what we hope is that they feel like they were part of the talk, part of the memory. Maybe they’ll look around their own towns and see possibility instead of decay. Maybe they’ll feel inspired to do the small, sometimes awkward work of care and repair. Because if nothing else, history is still being made. In small moments, in decisions, in how we treat our neighbors and this town we live in.
Of course, even as we write this we’re laughing about how we’ll never fully settle which one of us is worse with tools, or who had the worse coffee breath mid-interview. That’s just part of the deal. But the stories, the revealed history, and the chance to preserve something meaningful, that’s why we keep building.
We're just getting started and we hope you'll keep chasing the rabbit along with us!
— Josh & Jim
