Ripple Retreat: Trauma Recovery Meets Sobriety and Service with guest JJ Holley, A Veteran who lives to pay it forward

JJ Holley spent seven years rebuilding his life. Now, in a historic farmhouse in Maine, he's building something bigger: Ripple Retreat, an alcohol-free wellness space designed to flip the script on tourism and trauma recovery. In this walking tour episode, JJ shows us how one veteran's journey from survival to thriving is creating measurable change for entire communities, and what "paying it forward" actually looks like.

A quiet town in Maine. A historic 1830s farmhouse and barn. A veteran with seven years of sobriety and a plan that flips the usual “tourism takes from locals” story on its head. We brought back our friend JJ Holly to do something different: a walking tour of Ripple Retreat in West Paris, where he’s building an alcohol-free wellness and event space designed to create real, measurable community impact. His promise is bold and specific: after opening on 7 April 2027, Ripple Retreat will return 75% of profits to the town of West Paris and local charities.

As JJ shows us around, you’ll hear what’s coming to life on the property: Studio 22 for yoga, meditation, massage, Reiki, and holistic healing during the week, plus music lessons and kid-friendly programming that feels like a throwback to real community. Weekdays also include affordable Airbnb stays in two apartment-style units, with easy access to Maine ski resorts like Sunday River, Black Mountain, and Mount Abram. On weekends, the full property becomes a place for sober weddings, retreats, and gatherings, with clear rules that protect peace and neighbors: no alcohol and no music past 10 p.m.

The heart of this conversation is JJ’s story. He shares how the loss of Commander Murphy Sweet shaped his life, how he survived a dark moment overseas, and why recovery starts with reaching out and learning to love yourself. He also tells the unforgettable “White Socks” story from Baghdad, a reminder that tiny choices can create enormous ripples. That’s the same idea behind his fundraiser: a $5 “cup of love” on ripple-retreat.com to help fund the rebuild, plus weekly updates so supporters can track the progress.

If this moved you, subscribe, share the episode with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more people can find Ripple Retreat and the recovery message behind it.

Transcript

Welcome To Ripple Retreat

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Good afternoon and welcome to another episode of a Contagious Smile Unstoppable. We are gonna do things a little different today. As you all know, one of a Contagious Smile's favorites, JJ Holly, is here, and he is family to us, and we're doing something so not normal. We are gonna like literally let JJ take us on an exploration of his property, what he does, who he is, what it's worth, how you can align with this amazing cause. His concept is beautiful, everything that he's doing here is beautiful. You can have a wedding, and what's best is I'm gonna let him tell you the best part of all of this. So I'm just gonna turn it over to him and enjoy this serene, beautiful background that y'all are all about to experience. Hi, JJ.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Hey, Victoria, thank you so, so much for having me on today. Of course.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

So that annoying person in the family, you can't figure out how not to invite them. Now you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

How about the wedding at Ripple Retreat, where it is alcohol free? Yes, and Ripple Retreat is looking to open 7 April of 2027. Less than a year for profit for the community, and yes, that does say 75%.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

Explain what that means to me.

Profit Sharing For West Paris

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Okay, well, first I would like to just start off by thanking this community that I'm in. It's it West Paris is where Ripple Retreat is located, and I had Saturday, I had the fourth annual West Paris Spring Cleanup, which means let me flip the camera around. This is where everybody met. This is in the heart of West Paris. So where we all met and cleaned up the town. Spent a couple hours, handed out trash bags and maps, and told people what streets to to clean up. And I had such a great turnout. 20 people came out and we all cleaned up the town. And I want to thank West Paris for that. And also those who attended, I got to tell them what Ripple Retreat is all about. And now that I'm recording this, I can tell West Paris firsthand what Ripple Retreat is about and the community, the the world basically. Ripple Retreat is for profit for the community, in that 75% of all the profit Ripple Retreat makes after it opens in April of 2027 will go to the town of West Paris and local charities. What is the immediate effect with Ripple Retreat opening in 2027? Well,

Touring Studio 22 Wellness Plans

SPEAKER_01 3:04

let me show you. This is fun. Okay, here is a barn, the barn. That is connected to the house, and in between the house is what they refer to as a carriage house. That's huge. How what's the square footage? Total is 9,000 square feet of usable space. There's two apartments, studio 22 and the barn. The immediate effect for West Paris will be in April, you'll be able to attend a yoga class here. You'll be able to attend a music class for your children.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

This is studio 22. This is going to be open Monday through Thursday for yoga meditation, massage. There's gonna be massage upstairs. Reiki, holistic healing modalities are going to be available here to the public, to West Paris or anybody who stops by. When you walk in, this is 750 square feet, it's 30 feet wide by 28 feet deep, about 750. There's going to be mirrors on the wall, and it's not only a yoga studio, it can be a dance studio or a music studio for your children to learn to take music lessons in. The neat thing is when you walk through this studio 22, a two-point outhouse on the back. This farm home and barn was built in the 1830s.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Since I bought it four years ago. So imagine your child coming here on a weekly basis for music lessons, and after a couple months, the recital is held in the backyard.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

How much fun!

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Right? Or you're having a yoga class that day and the weather is beautiful, so everybody moves outside. So Monday through Thursday, Studio 22 will be available to the public. Monday

Weekday Airbnbs And Affordable Stays

SPEAKER_01 5:51

through Thursday, the house, the two apartments will be Airbnb'd. I am less than 30 minutes away from two from three ski resorts. Mount Abram is 20 minutes, Black Mountain of Maine is about 25 minutes, and 30 minutes away is Sunday River, a major ski resort. So imagine staying at one of these floors during the week and going skiing.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Well, Monday through Thursday, two Airbnbs that give back to the community that make profit and give that profit to the community. Isn't that a heck of a concept?

SPEAKER_03 6:35

It is. What is it gonna cost to rent out for like a Monday through Thursday?

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Not much. Right now I'm running the numbers of $122 a night plus the cleaning fees, but per floor. And uh downstairs there's two and a half bedrooms, upstairs is three bedrooms, full kitchens, full bathrooms, plenty of space. That is so cheap, right? The the Studio 22, I'm gonna lease for the first year at eleven thousand dollars for the year. So I'm leasing it to Arts to Transcend, which is a nonprofit organization that will be managing all the yoga, all the massage, all the modalities. And then Friday through Sunday, you can rent all of it. That price has not been set yet, but I'm I've been running the numbers very conservative, and at 50% occupancy rate for this property, I'm looking that very first year of giving to the community close to $50,000.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Wow, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

And all of this is possible because I'm retired. Thank you for your service. Thank you. I appreciate that. And and in retiring, my pension and my health care is covered. And I'm now celebrating seven years of sobriety. That sobriety has enabled me to tap into the resource of my experience. I'm uh my last uh 13 years in the Air Force, I was a contracting officer. So I know how to write contracts, and construction contracts is my my uh specialty. So I will be overseeing the construction contracts to get this done properly through donations.

Barn Vision For Events And Play

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Well, before we go to the donation part, this barn, let me walk you into there real quick just to show you right off the street into this beautiful barn that was built in the 1830s. Such history, absolutely my daughter's camper van.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

Who's motorcycle, JJ?

SPEAKER_01 9:05

My tenants from downstairs. Oh, okay. Yeah, what I'm looking to do is not normal. I'm going to put in rock climbing, um, a rock climbing wall here, ropes, and make this a play area for children and adults. Can you imagine going to a retreat? And one of the things they address in your retreat for the your mental health of bettering yourself is facing your fear of heights. And you could climb up to that third platform up there.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

That would be amazing.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

That'd be that's an amazing option. So that's the play area for the adults and the kids down here and up there, that second floor is huge. Enough room in here for 20 vendors if you wanted to have a vendor fair, and then that platform up there is going to be reserved for the bands. Live music, live music up there filling in this barn while you're having a vendor's fair or a wedding or a retreat. I don't know if you have a band for retreat, but the barn, studio 22 with massage and yoga options for your the weekend, and the house big enough to sleep 12, 15 of your guests for the retreat or at a wedding, all available for rent Friday through Sunday. Wow, I am building my own personal apartment in the back of this garage. What that means is I will be living on site. So I will be here to answer any questions anybody has about during the week or checking in for the Airbnb, or there's an event going on, or if the community has a problem or suggestions to make Ripple Retreat better for the community, I will be here. This is going to be one of the most impactful positive ripple, community ripple that I can possibly make with the least amount of disturbance to the community.

Why The Property Stays Alcohol-Free

SPEAKER_01 11:34

One of the rules, no alcohol. Another rule is no music past 10 p.m. I'm sorry, it's just it. Yeah, yeah. Because this is a quiet community of 1800 people, between 17 and 1800 people, and I want it ripple retreat to create positive ripples in the community, and not only for the community, but for the people who stay here, right?

SPEAKER_03 12:03

Let me ask you why no alcohol for people who are curious.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Because I was an alcoholic most of my life until I turned 50, and then I then I quit, and it's been seven years, and I I just I that's my rule.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

Tell

Combat Loss And Choosing Sobriety

SPEAKER_03 12:24

us about why you do what you do. Why are you who you are? I think the story is so impactful, and for so many who don't know it, they need to know who you are.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

My ripple? Commander sweet? Yep, yes. Okay, I spent 27 years in the military, and during that time I've been deployed to Iraq three times. My first time I met and became really great friends with Commander Murphy Suite. He was killed by an IED on April 7th, 2020 or 2007, 19 years ago, two days after I got home. After I served and retired, my I got a divorce, my I was divorced, my kids were growing and out of the house, and I should be living the life of a I should be living a dream life because I literally was backpacking the world. I had my retirement, my healthcare, and all that. And but I was an alcoholic. And I ended up in Australia at a low point in my life where I came very close to taking my own life. Commander Murphy Sweet popped in my head and enabled me to crawl out of that hole. It was him that motivated me. He was my ripple that changed my life. And I believe that we all put out a ripple, be it positive or negative. And from that point on, it's been it hasn't been easy, but I believe in putting out a positive ripple. And I've been following that. And the longer I've been sober, the clearer I get. And I did not, I'd never been to Maine until four and a half years ago when my dog, Coda, my husky, and I and I drove out here, and I found this property, it spoke to me, and I could not believe that I was buying it. I was like, why am I buying this huge place? It's just my dog and I.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

You and I, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

But not a month after I bought it, that's when I came up with the idea that I can make this an Airbnb that gives its profit back to the community. So I've been working diligently. I'm getting estimates to rebuild, to rewire, to put in the heating system, to do all this fun stuff. So I could present a business plan and a request to a bank for a loan.

The $5 Cup Of Love Goal

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Instead, I'm reaching out to the community of West Paris, the recovery community, the veteran community, the humanity community, you all to please visit my website and buy Ripple Retreat a cup of coffee. That's all it takes. There's a you go to my website, you scroll all the way down to the bottom, you'll see this cheesy picture of me in my mess dress. Right next to it is this yellow button, and I changed it to buy a cup of love. And your five dollars, five dollar contribution will go towards opening this up in April of 2027. My goal is to get 200,000 people to buy a cup of coffee for Ripple Retreat, and that is just five dollars. And yes, it is not a it is a for-profit for the community. You don't get a tax deduction on your five dollars. I'm sorry, but and I'm gonna be paying taxes on it. I'm not a nonprofit, and that's okay, because you know, this is a community center that pays back to the community because it is a for-profit. If I was a community center, I'd be reliant on donations, I'd be reliant on grants. If I was a recovery center, if I a nonprofit, I would be reliant on all of that. But no, I have a commodity that people will rent and it will change their lives by renting it, knowing that their sunk cost to better their lives, let's say for a wedding, you want it's a big ripple in your life, you have to spend that money anyway, having it at Ripple Retreat, not only because it's beautiful, but because your sunk cost, your money that you're going to spend is going to the community.

SPEAKER_03 16:59

Great. Well, let me ask you, because of who you are and what you've done, and you've been family with us for years, I want people who are listening to know this isn't JJ just didn't come out of nowhere a few years ago, purchased this property. He has been this person from before I met him. He told me a story about before I met him about White Sox. And it has stayed with me for all of this time. Because to me, if someone said explain JJ, I would say White Sox story, because that to me just literally sums up who JJ is. So you're gonna have to tell the White Sox story because anybody who's listening, who might not be in Maine, but might be in New York or in, you know, Mexico or California, wherever, this is why he's asking for $5. It's not even a Starbucks coffee anymore. I mean, that's more than that. It's because of this person who has dedicated his life for the country. He has dedicated his life to helping other people. He goes above and beyond. I have been asked and been participating in his free weekly meetings that he does for people in recovery. He gives and gives and gives every single day, every single week. It is not something that just started a few years ago. And so I I'm gonna put you on the spot. You gotta tell the White Sox story.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Okay,

White Socks And A Life Saved

SPEAKER_01 18:23

there I was, January 23rd, 2007, in Baghdad, Iraq. And I we work long days, but we do get breaks and go to the gym. And I was working out with a buddy of mine, and I'm curling some dumbbells and looking down at the floor, and I see his socks, and they're white. And I was like, How do you keep your socks white? Because the water is not that they took mine, turned brown, and he simply said you just turn them right side out. And I went, huh. Yeah, I guess I don't do that, so I'll start doing that. Okay, fast forward to eight that night. I get back from work and I grab my laundry and I go to to the laundry in the barracks, and it's a two-story building, like a Motel 8. And you walk out on the outside. So at the end of the building, you go up the stairs, and then I walk down, and I went to dump my laundry in the washer, like I normally do, add the detergent and walk off, but instead I stopped and I turned three pairs of socks right side down, closed the lid, started the washer, and went to go outside and back down to where the stairs came, where the stairs are, and a mortar hit the end of the building. It was one of those saving private Ryan moments. It was so loud that the percussion from it, I couldn't hear anything. I literally screamed and could not hear my own myself scream. And a couple rooms down, a guy comes out and is yell and yells, that hit Joe's room. Joe is the last room on the end of the building. So I ran down there, and that guy is beating on the door. And we're talking blast-proof windows, blast-proof doors, the door's locked, there's no way to get in. I turn around and rear back and start kicking with the heel of my boot. And I ended up busting the entire window and frame out of the cinder block wall. I grabbed it and threw it down, and I pulled the curtains back, looked in, and there was Joe sitting on his bed, eyes wide open, reaching out, and he literally had a brick sticking out of the side of his head, which was part of the wall. He was standing next to it when the mortar hit. I reached around and unlocked the door the second the medics grabbed the other side of the door and opened it. Because when I unlocked it, I went back to open the door and they were already in. They scooped him up, put him in the back of a pickup, and took him to the hospital. He was in a coma for a while. They ended up put sending him back to Rammstein. And I talked to the doc, the surgeon that saved his life a couple days later, and he told me that had it taken a few minutes longer, he would not have lived because the swelling on his brain was so so bad. So a pair of socks kept me from being on those stairs when they got when that side the building got hit. Oh, they're marble stairs, they were just obliterated.

SPEAKER_04 21:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

And enabled the right people to be at the right spot at the right time to save Joe's life. And he was a contractor. I don't know his last name. I don't even know where he is nowadays. So if anybody's listening, Listening to this, and they know about Joe getting injured, or if this is if Joe is watching this and you got injured January 23rd, 2007 in the IZ in Baghdad, Iraq. Let me know. I would like to know how you're doing.

SPEAKER_03 22:15

Yes. Reach out to me, I'll get you in touch. Absolutely. Absolutely. That is amazing. You've always been that way. You've always been the person to see the good in people and help everybody. And this is time where, you know, you're not doing this for your own reason. You're doing this to help other people and pay back into the community. And everybody needs to, you know, do this. Think about the kids coming in and doing the concert. You know, you have kids doing music class while you're doing a yoga class. And you know, it's family values. And that's what so much we need to get back to because everybody's so electronically just empowered, where they just have their head in the phone and they don't do family things like we should anymore. And that's so important to do.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

And this is beautiful. Thank you. Oh, yeah, and that's just it. So Baghdad, I mean, Commander Murphy Suite, Australia. There's one point when I was in Australia after I didn't kill myself a few days later. I was I fell on my face and pulled out my phone and asked for help for the first time ever. And I dialed 911, and guess what? It didn't work.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

Because you weren't in the States.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

No, I was in Australia. Right. Right. And that's when I felt a tap on my shoulder, not literally, but I heard Commander Murphy's voice in my head say, You've been a hero to so many. It's time to be a hero to yourself. And that's when it shifted. And that's when I learned to pick myself up and give myself grace and start loving myself. And because of that, I am where I am today. I have a podcast called What's Your Ripple? And I have Ripple Retreat. And I have a weekly meeting called Recovery Ripples. Yes, it's all about the ripples because I've learned to turn those ripples into a positive. And you get back what you give out. It's a law of attraction. And I hope to someday inspire somebody to stop drinking or just to start thinking about their ripple, you know. So I have a tagline with Ripple Retreat, and I say, and the thing is, this is in American Sign Language Sign for I Love You. Okay. Right. So what I ask everybody out there to do is just to take time to pause. Love yourself and be aware of your ripple. Because once you're aware of your ripple, you realize the impact you have on not only the people around you, but your children and your grandchildren and your friends, and now I'm building a legacy for my grandchildren. I and it's cool because I lived in 34 places in this world. So my hometown is just a figment of my imagination. And when I came here to West Paris, it felt like my hometown. So I am now planting roots and claiming West Paris as my hometown. And my son and his family moved here, my daughters moved here, their mothers moved here, and we're all friends. And it's just really cool. I've spent the ripple in my family, and now the ripple that's happening in the community. And I hope that I can get people to fuel that ripple.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

Absolutely, absolutely. So talk to everyone that will be listening to this. And I'm asking personally that everybody listen and be involved in this and participate, share it, because it takes three seconds to share. It doesn't take any time at all to share this message.

How To Ask For Help

SPEAKER_03 26:17

And if you could just talk to that one individual person who needs that extra guidance right now that's trying to figure out if they're ready to begin recovery, what do you say to them?

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Reach out. Reach out. There's a huge community out there. There's a huge recovery community. Start loving yourself. Give yourself grace. It took me 10 years of trying to finally stop. I had been sober many a times. Well, when you go to Iraq, you can't drink. When you go to Afghanistan, you can't drink. Those are forced sobrieties. And there's been many a times I beat myself into sobriety and been tough on myself. It didn't work. The day I started loving myself, that's when things shifted.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Tell me what that looked like. How did you take that step to make that happen?

SPEAKER_01 27:15

I asked for help. And then I started loving myself, started listening to self-help podcasts and reading self-help books. And I attended a few meetings. Alcoholics Anonymous is a great program. There's Recovery Dharma. There's all kinds of programs out there in the communities. And once you reach out, you find out that you're not alone. You're not alone. And I I thought I would die without alcohol. But come to find out, the alcohol was actually killing me. I'm now alive. I like a I have a I like to uh share this analogy of a security blanket. Please. When I was a kid growing up in the 70s, my family had a security blanket. They took it everywhere they went, on good trips, on bad time during bad times. Even when we were bored, they always had that security blanket with them. And it's called alcohol. And I was taught how to use that security blanket at a very young age. Then I joined the military and I found out, hey, everybody in the military has a security blanket too. A lot of them do, anyway. So we all gather under our own security blankets of alcohol. You can always, at the end of the day, run home and crawl under that blanket. Well, when you abuse that security blanket, you find out people start disappearing out from underneath that blanket. And I found myself like at the bottom of a pond, looking up at the surface and looking at my loved ones, and everything I saw was disappointment, was not love. And it was like, you can do better, and you can do this and you can do that. Once I crawled out from underneath that security blanket and got free of it, I realized it was like coming out of the surface of the pond. Everything was reversed underwater. And now that I'm on top, I look at my loved ones and they're happy and they are proud and they're supportive and they love, and their words were of encouragement, not of disappointment. And I also learned the words for myself are the same. So I'm now securely standing on top of that security blanket, and I've walked away from it.

SPEAKER_03 30:00

That's amazing. So instead, if you're contemplating going and purchasing that six-pack, take that money and put it towards the ripple effect, put it in here towards that, and then go in and go to one of his meetings. His meetings are amazing. I've I've been lucky enough to participate in a few of them, and they're so heartfelt and genuine. And he actually listens, and that's amazing. Before

Heart-Shaped Pond And 2027 Opening

SPEAKER_03 30:22

you go too far, my friend, I I definitely want you to tell the story of the shape of that beautiful lake you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Oh, yeah, this pond. I was going to take you up to the waterfall.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

What? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going for that too.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Yeah, we'll go to the waterfall. So I've been fortunate. I got a front end loader at an at an auction. And because I'm all about the love, I dug this pond in the shape of a heart. I love that. And you said you could see it from Google Maps. I don't know if it's updated yet, but it will be. I've done some Muriel shots of it, and it it looks, I mean, it's a heart.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

Yeah, I can see that. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

So the heart of West Paris, it's full of love, that's for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:18

So there's a waterfall.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

Tell me about this. Oh, it's we're walking up to it for sure. But imagine if you will people contributing just five dollars can fund this and get this to create profit for the community. So think about this. I could very easily be a homeless veteran standing on a street corner right now, alcoholic, heroin addict, or whatever, asking for a cup of coffee. But instead, I've done the work, I got sober, and now I'm trying to launch a dream that's going to change a lot of people's lives. And I'm asking for a cup of coffee.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

The neat thing is if you donate, even if you don't donate, you can follow me on Facebook and Instagram and my podcast. Every Wednesday I'm going to be doing a video update of how many coffees I've received and what I'm doing with those donations.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Flip this camera around.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Oh wow. And you said you have eleven acres.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

I do. And this is still part of it.

SPEAKER_03 32:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

I have camp sites around here as well. Set up tents and people can come back and camp.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Me too. This is my favorite spot.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

I can see why.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

Yeah, and believe it, it's in the heart of Western Earth. You just ended up there. You just I did. I followed my intuition, just to listen to my higher calling, so to speak.

SPEAKER_03 33:26

Are you going to dedicate a room or anything specific under Commander Sweet's name?

SPEAKER_01 33:33

Yes, this stage. The stage is dedicated to Commander Sweet Murphy Sweet in honor of him and the ripples that he is making. Because of him, I'm here and making ripples. And I'm going to open on 7 April 2027, which will be the 20-year anniversary of his death.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

You know, he's so proud of you.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Yeah. Yeah, I feel that. I feel he's with me.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

This is amazing. Thank you so much for taking us on this journey today. Tell

Ways To Donate Partner And Follow

SPEAKER_03 34:12

everybody your website again and how they can donate, what they can do. And even if they're local, can't they come and help and provide services or help clean up or construction companies could maybe do some stuff?

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Absolutely. So ripple-retreat.com is the website. And on there you can you can buy a cup of coffee, you can look at what ripple retreat is today and what it will be in the future. And there's also resources on there. There's the button or the link to my meeting every Tuesday night called Recovery of Excuse me, Ripples of Recovery, 5 p.m. every Tuesday. And it's for those of us who are in long-term recovery who want to get together and talk about the good in our lives now that we're sober, not the bad. It's an hour of uh gratitude, of going, hey, look how far we've come. This is not easy. And oh, it's an hour of gratitude. You leave the meeting just on cloud nine, I swear. But yes, and if you are a local company that wants to join the ripple, be part of the remodel. I need I need architects or or designers that could help me design this to give to the contractors to help them build. I mean, there's all kinds of uh possibilities out there for help because I'm doing this by myself.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

Yeah, that's a lot, and you're recovering from an injury I see.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

Oh, yes, I had uh surgery on my hand, it kind of got worn out thanks to the military and all that fun stuff. But one thing I want to add that I'd forgotten is off the back of the barn. Once this gets up and running and I can afford it, I'm going to build a building and have a swimming pool in there. Oh, an indoor pool. An indoor pool, about the size of the barn, right off the back of the barn. And underneath will be restrooms, uh, changing rooms, there'll be a sauna up at the first floor level. There will be the pool and a jacuzzi. And that will be available to the public Monday through Thursday. So imagine bringing your kids here not only for music lessons but for swimming lessons too. That's awesome. And then you rent it uh for the weekend for your wedding, you can have or the retreat of a swimming pool as an option.

SPEAKER_02 37:00

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 37:03

Well, thank you for all that you're doing, and this is beautiful. I would love to have you come on and and do updates too, so we could put this out as well. I would love that.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

Yes, I would love that.

SPEAKER_03 37:14

Thank you for being with us today and showing us around everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Well, thank you, Victoria, for giving me the opportunity.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Yeah, opportunity anytime, anytime. Everybody go check him out because y'all need to do that and buy him some coffee.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

Yes, please donate, donate, donate or join in the company.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

My phone number is literally on the website. Give me a call, we can partner up. I am all about mental health and programs that help the community. So if you want, if you're a retreat leader, you're the life coach, and you want to want to bring your your group here, let me know.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

Absolutely. Thank you, JJ. Thank you, Victoria.