WEBVTT 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:32.859 The end. Hi, and welcome back to Tell Me What 00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:35.119 Happened, the podcast that features folks from 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:38.299 all walks of life telling us one story from their 00:00:38.299 --> 00:00:41.399 childhood and how that event impacted who they 00:00:41.399 --> 00:00:45.060 are today. I'm your host, Jay Rehack, and like 00:00:45.060 --> 00:00:48.020 you, I've had my share of childhood experiences 00:00:48.020 --> 00:00:51.320 that impacted who I am today. But I'd like to 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:53.179 think that everything that happened to me has 00:00:53.179 --> 00:00:55.960 helped make me a better person. Tell Me What 00:00:55.960 --> 00:00:59.460 Happened is sponsored by Sidelining Publishing. 00:00:59.609 --> 00:01:02.350 Publishers of quality books, including Susan 00:01:02.350 --> 00:01:05.489 Salinor's classic, One Little Act of Kindness, 00:01:05.750 --> 00:01:08.730 available on Amazon .com and wherever quality 00:01:08.730 --> 00:01:11.650 books are sold. Tell Me What Happened is also 00:01:11.650 --> 00:01:16.170 sponsored by laughsaver .com. Visit laughsaver 00:01:16.170 --> 00:01:19.769 .com and record your laughter. We'll keep it 00:01:19.769 --> 00:01:24.150 for you now and forever. It's free and your children 00:01:24.150 --> 00:01:27.329 and your grandchildren and your great grandchildren 00:01:27.329 --> 00:01:30.930 will thank you for it. That's LaughSaver .com. 00:01:31.090 --> 00:01:33.769 And by the way, LaughSaver .com will be available 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:38.329 as an app come May 2022. All right. Well, today 00:01:38.329 --> 00:01:41.349 I have as my guest, Travis Corey. Travis is a 00:01:41.349 --> 00:01:43.450 friend of my daughter's and also a friend of 00:01:43.450 --> 00:01:46.290 mine. He's also a ceramic teacher and student 00:01:46.290 --> 00:01:49.950 at the Lil Street Art Street Center. He creates 00:01:49.950 --> 00:01:53.730 small batch functional ceramics for Lucky Duck 00:01:53.730 --> 00:01:57.689 pottery. Welcome to the show, Travis. Thanks 00:01:57.689 --> 00:02:01.859 for having me, Jay. Excited. Fantastic. Travis, 00:02:02.099 --> 00:02:05.260 are you ready to tell your story? I am. Yeah. 00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:06.799 All right. Well, listen, I'm going to get out 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:08.460 of the way. And at the end, I'm going to come 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:11.340 back and ask you really just one question. How 00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:13.819 do you think that story and that event impacted 00:02:13.819 --> 00:02:16.939 who you are today? But take it away, Travis. 00:02:18.199 --> 00:02:21.159 All right. The story takes place the summer I 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:25.270 was going into high school. I was 14. It also 00:02:25.270 --> 00:02:27.789 involves my sister who is 10 years old at the 00:02:27.789 --> 00:02:31.189 time. And a little bit of background on our relationship 00:02:31.189 --> 00:02:34.569 is that we basically raised each other. We were 00:02:34.569 --> 00:02:37.409 the children of a single mom who worked really 00:02:37.409 --> 00:02:41.009 hard and also worked the night shift as a bartender, 00:02:41.189 --> 00:02:43.389 which meant she slept a lot during the day. So 00:02:43.389 --> 00:02:47.729 we kind of seldom saw her. So growing up, my 00:02:47.729 --> 00:02:50.129 sister and I were essentially these... feral 00:02:50.129 --> 00:02:52.770 children running around, these kind of outdoor 00:02:52.770 --> 00:02:57.669 cats with no rules or discipline. And we did 00:02:57.669 --> 00:03:00.710 what we wanted when we wanted. And we kind of 00:03:00.710 --> 00:03:04.030 had no structure. And our living situation changed 00:03:04.030 --> 00:03:06.990 very often. We would move just about every year 00:03:06.990 --> 00:03:09.669 into a new apartment in our town. We were usually 00:03:09.669 --> 00:03:12.389 evicted from the previous lease or my mom had 00:03:12.389 --> 00:03:14.509 a new boyfriend and we would move in with him. 00:03:15.150 --> 00:03:17.250 So change was essentially the only thing that 00:03:17.250 --> 00:03:20.379 was constant. And that meant my sister and I 00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:23.099 would hang out together a lot. We would play 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:26.099 together. We would cook for each other. I'd help 00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:29.199 her with her homework. We were generally very 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.879 supportive of one another. And then when I was 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:36.479 14, we moved in with my mom's new boyfriend. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:39.020 And this was the first house we had ever lived 00:03:39.020 --> 00:03:44.060 in. It had this huge yard and it had an upstairs 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:47.419 and this big unfinished basement. So to us, it 00:03:47.419 --> 00:03:51.310 was a mansion essentially. And every house in 00:03:51.310 --> 00:03:53.430 the neighborhood was pretty much the same. It's 00:03:53.430 --> 00:03:56.210 just really big houses, big yards, big families. 00:03:57.229 --> 00:04:00.210 But my sister and I did not get along with my 00:04:00.210 --> 00:04:03.849 mom's boyfriend. He was incredibly strict and 00:04:03.849 --> 00:04:07.349 loud and just a generally scary looking dude. 00:04:08.229 --> 00:04:11.909 He was well over six foot bald, had this big 00:04:11.909 --> 00:04:15.710 bushy red beard and a beer gut. He looked like 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.560 a member of like a biker gang. And he may have 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.160 very well been in the past. He used to ride motorcycles 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.939 and then he got into an accident and like half 00:04:24.939 --> 00:04:27.639 of the bones in his arm had to be replaced with 00:04:27.639 --> 00:04:32.220 metal. He was like a terminator. And what I really 00:04:32.220 --> 00:04:36.620 remember about him were his cabs, which is oddly 00:04:36.620 --> 00:04:39.759 specific, but he had like these... monster sized 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:42.279 calf muscles that were just going to pulse when 00:04:42.279 --> 00:04:45.160 he wasn't even doing anything. And it terrified 00:04:45.160 --> 00:04:48.779 me as a kid. And I had a history with him before 00:04:48.779 --> 00:04:51.819 I moved into his house. He was my fourth grade 00:04:51.819 --> 00:04:55.079 football coach. And I remember in a fourth grade 00:04:55.079 --> 00:04:58.459 football practice, I dislocated my pinky finger 00:04:58.459 --> 00:05:01.199 when I got tackled and I ran up to him and I 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:04.180 was in tears and I was crying. And I told him 00:05:04.180 --> 00:05:07.670 that I broke my finger and it looked broken to 00:05:07.670 --> 00:05:10.670 me. And he's like, come on, it's just out of 00:05:10.670 --> 00:05:13.689 place. So he took my hand and he popped my finger 00:05:13.689 --> 00:05:15.509 back into place and he kind of sent me back on 00:05:15.509 --> 00:05:17.790 the field. And I don't think he did it right 00:05:17.790 --> 00:05:21.350 because that pinky is not like my other one still. 00:05:21.589 --> 00:05:23.990 But anyway, it's like the kind of guy he was. 00:05:24.709 --> 00:05:26.810 No excuses, kind of quit crying, just get it 00:05:26.810 --> 00:05:30.129 done mentality and attitude. So we move into 00:05:30.129 --> 00:05:33.410 this new house and my sister and I have to really 00:05:33.410 --> 00:05:36.389 start pulling our own weight. We have to do chores 00:05:36.389 --> 00:05:39.930 and yard work, which is all very new to us. He'd 00:05:39.930 --> 00:05:43.050 wake us up very early on the weekends and I would 00:05:43.050 --> 00:05:45.589 mow the yard and pull vines and weeds out of 00:05:45.589 --> 00:05:48.009 the lawn. And my sister would have to clean up 00:05:48.009 --> 00:05:51.399 around the house. And yeah, we were not used 00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:56.160 to this kind of structure and we hated it. We 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:59.139 hated being told what to do. We hated having 00:05:59.139 --> 00:06:02.959 to ask permission to do things. It simply wasn't 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:06.639 the way we were raised. And my mom's boyfriend, 00:06:06.899 --> 00:06:09.060 he owned this construction business. He was a 00:06:09.060 --> 00:06:12.220 contractor and he would do these small odd jobs 00:06:12.220 --> 00:06:16.240 for folks in the area. And one day on a weekend 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.720 morning in the summer, He woke me and my sister 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:23.920 up and there was this ream of paper on the kitchen 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:27.019 table. And it was, it was a stack of flyers that 00:06:27.019 --> 00:06:30.019 said A to Z custom carpentry and had his phone 00:06:30.019 --> 00:06:33.819 number on it. And he told my sister and I that 00:06:33.819 --> 00:06:35.399 he wanted us to walk around the neighborhood 00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:38.980 and put these flyers on every house. And we shouldn't 00:06:38.980 --> 00:06:41.259 come back home until all these flyers were passed 00:06:41.259 --> 00:06:45.939 out. And it was like 500. flyers. And I don't 00:06:45.939 --> 00:06:49.480 even think there were 500 homes in this neighborhood. 00:06:49.939 --> 00:06:51.779 The homes in the neighborhood were, it was a 00:06:51.779 --> 00:06:53.720 suburban neighborhood. So everything's very spaced 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:56.759 out, very far away. It would have taken us all 00:06:56.759 --> 00:06:59.319 day. We would have walked 15 miles probably. 00:06:59.680 --> 00:07:02.399 So, and it's a weekend day in the summer. So 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:05.899 we weren't happy about that, but this was not 00:07:05.899 --> 00:07:09.660 a guy that you talk back to. So my sister and 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:11.420 I walked around the neighborhood and we started 00:07:11.420 --> 00:07:13.860 handing out these flyers and we put them in people's 00:07:13.860 --> 00:07:17.639 screen doors. and in their mailboxes and on their 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:21.980 windshields of cars. And we did that for all 00:07:21.980 --> 00:07:26.100 about 15 minutes. And then the whole time, my 00:07:26.100 --> 00:07:28.040 sister is, she's crying. She doesn't want to 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:30.319 do this. Obviously she's 10 years old. And so 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:33.319 I'm like, okay, come on, follow me. And I walk 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:35.939 her a couple blocks away from the house and I 00:07:35.939 --> 00:07:38.220 do the most environmentally conscious thing I 00:07:38.220 --> 00:07:41.920 could do, which is stuff a huge stack of flyers 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:46.069 into a storm drain. And then she saw me do that. 00:07:46.250 --> 00:07:49.449 And she looked at me and she smiled and then 00:07:49.449 --> 00:07:52.230 she did the same thing. And it was literally 00:07:52.230 --> 00:07:54.670 in that moment, like a weight had been lifted 00:07:54.670 --> 00:07:57.149 off of us. We knew we couldn't go home right 00:07:57.149 --> 00:07:58.589 away because there's no way we would have been 00:07:58.589 --> 00:08:00.269 able to pass all those flyers out. So we just 00:08:00.269 --> 00:08:02.050 walked around the neighborhood together for a 00:08:02.050 --> 00:08:05.410 couple of hours and talked and like explored. 00:08:06.050 --> 00:08:09.529 And it was it was just like a great summer day. 00:08:09.550 --> 00:08:12.560 And I remember feeling very happy in that moment. 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.879 And it felt like we kind of took back some of 00:08:15.879 --> 00:08:18.319 our our agency, like a thing that we didn't really 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:21.019 feel like we had in this new house. And we told 00:08:21.019 --> 00:08:23.939 each other we would never tell anyone what we 00:08:23.939 --> 00:08:26.620 did. And now it's nearly 20 years later, and 00:08:26.620 --> 00:08:29.579 I'm spilling the beans about it. So to my sister, 00:08:29.740 --> 00:08:33.340 I'm, I'm sorry, but I had to get it off my chest. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:38.049 Yeah, that's my story. I love it, man. I'm glad. 00:08:38.110 --> 00:08:40.929 I was afraid that the guy was going to find out 00:08:40.929 --> 00:08:42.610 about it, that somehow that storm drain was going 00:08:42.610 --> 00:08:45.769 to get mucked up and then call up the A to Z 00:08:45.769 --> 00:08:49.509 and say, we found 500 of your flyers. Yeah, right. 00:08:49.970 --> 00:08:53.590 So glad you got away with it. I'm so glad. Oh, 00:08:53.690 --> 00:08:55.629 is that guy still in your life in terms of your 00:08:55.629 --> 00:08:59.610 mother's life? No, no. That was probably a couple 00:08:59.610 --> 00:09:02.470 years for us, which was one of the longer ones 00:09:02.470 --> 00:09:05.450 relationship wise. But yeah, no longer in the 00:09:05.450 --> 00:09:09.159 picture. Yeah. I just want him coming after you. 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:12.059 Yeah. Right. Yeah. He'll hear this and wonder 00:09:12.059 --> 00:09:16.820 why his business failed. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, gosh. 00:09:17.419 --> 00:09:19.559 Well, I love the story in the sense that you 00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:21.919 were also the big brother taking care of the 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:24.700 problem. You know, your poor sister didn't need 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:28.659 to pass it out papers either. Yeah. Yeah. So 00:09:28.659 --> 00:09:32.620 let me ask you. How do you think that particular 00:09:32.620 --> 00:09:36.320 story? has impacted who you are today. How do 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:38.279 you think that relates to who you are today? 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:42.419 Yeah, I think, I don't know if this event particularly 00:09:42.419 --> 00:09:44.740 impacted it, but I think it's maybe solidified 00:09:44.740 --> 00:09:47.960 a lot of things in terms of my personality. And 00:09:47.960 --> 00:09:52.039 like I still really don't like being told what 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:55.139 to do or asking permission to do things either. 00:09:55.179 --> 00:09:58.960 I like autonomy and agency in my own life. But 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:01.480 in a way, I think it also, those like brief couple 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:05.440 of years. did introduce some like structure and 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:08.159 rigidity to life that was probably desperately 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:11.059 needed as someone going into into high school. 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:15.639 So it was almost like a little kind of life boot 00:10:15.639 --> 00:10:18.460 camp in a way. But it was also nice to feel like, 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:22.659 oh, my sister and I can still maintain our relationship. 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:26.220 And yeah, I think it's come across in a few a 00:10:26.220 --> 00:10:28.379 few different ways, but it's still there. Yeah. 00:10:28.620 --> 00:10:31.120 So if your mother hears this story, is she going 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:32.720 to be mad at you or is she going to be cool with 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:35.639 it? I can't remember if we told her or not. I 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:37.620 think at this point she would be all right with 00:10:37.620 --> 00:10:40.580 it. But yeah, not a surprise either. This is 00:10:40.580 --> 00:10:43.700 probably behavior she would have assumed from 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:47.919 my sister and I. Yeah. Very cool. Well, I like 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:51.519 the story. I like the courage to a certain extent 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:53.700 that it took because you got this football coach 00:10:53.700 --> 00:10:57.620 of a guy telling you what to do and you have 00:10:57.620 --> 00:11:00.649 to sort of You would underhandedly, I suppose. 00:11:01.889 --> 00:11:06.049 I'm wondering down the road if by chance you 00:11:06.049 --> 00:11:09.850 ever have children and you have a business and 00:11:09.850 --> 00:11:11.929 the kid's 14 years old, are you going to send 00:11:11.929 --> 00:11:16.090 him out to pass out flyers or are you going to 00:11:16.090 --> 00:11:17.889 assume that he'd probably throw it in a drain? 00:11:18.610 --> 00:11:21.570 Oh, I guess it won't be flyers then. I'll have 00:11:21.570 --> 00:11:24.309 him on his social media account promoting my 00:11:24.309 --> 00:11:27.639 business. No, yeah. Yeah. I don't think I would 00:11:27.639 --> 00:11:31.200 ever, I would be a pretty hands -off guy, but 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:33.820 I would like to think that my kid would throw 00:11:33.820 --> 00:11:36.480 the flyers down the sewer as well. I would only 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:39.519 assume. Right. You'd be proud of him if he didn't. 00:11:39.620 --> 00:11:41.919 You'd be ashamed of him if he didn't. Yeah. A 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:46.759 little disappointed if he didn't. Yeah. Thank 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:49.820 you for the story, Travis. I appreciate it. It 00:11:49.820 --> 00:11:52.700 is one of those little slices of life that... 00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:54.919 I think people can identify with, you know, I 00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:57.440 mean, most, most identify with to some extent, 00:11:57.740 --> 00:12:00.179 either the moment that somebody did do something 00:12:00.179 --> 00:12:03.500 to say, no, I'm not doing this or remembering 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:05.259 the times when they were forced to do things 00:12:05.259 --> 00:12:07.539 and they went through with it, but still carry 00:12:07.539 --> 00:12:09.620 the resentment of having to do it. That's right. 00:12:09.940 --> 00:12:13.980 It goes both ways, but yeah. Sorry for that little 00:12:13.980 --> 00:12:16.759 guy and that 14 year old guy and that 10 year 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:19.059 old girl. It turned out all right. It turned 00:12:19.059 --> 00:12:22.120 out okay. Your sister's okay. All good. Yeah. 00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:26.220 Okay. All good. All right. Well, thank you so 00:12:26.220 --> 00:12:30.480 much, Travis. Yeah. Thanks, Jay. All right. That's 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:33.200 our show. I'd like to thank Travis Corey for 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:38.139 that slice of life that I can certainly identify 00:12:38.139 --> 00:12:41.419 with a little resistance. I guess that's it. 00:12:41.419 --> 00:12:44.799 He's a resistor. And so thank you for that story, 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:47.740 Travis. I'd also like to thank our sponsors, 00:12:48.100 --> 00:12:50.080 Sidelining Publishing, publishers of quality 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:53.679 books. And laughsaver .com. Visit laughsaver 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:56.179 .com and record your laughter. We'll keep it 00:12:56.179 --> 00:12:59.519 for you. It's free now and forever. So I'm going 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:02.820 to end this show, as I often do, with Susan Saldor's 00:13:02.820 --> 00:13:06.120 classic, I've Got Peace in My Fingers. So until 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:09.480 next time, this is Jay Reank asking you all to 00:13:09.480 --> 00:13:11.940 please stay safe out there and try not to hurt 00:13:11.940 --> 00:13:17.120 anybody. I've got peace. Peace, peace in my fingers. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:22.820 Watch what I can do. I've got peace, peace, peace 00:13:22.820 --> 00:13:26.580 in my fingers. I'm gonna shake hands with you. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:31.580 I've got peace, peace, peace in my fingers. Watch 00:13:31.580 --> 00:13:37.159 what I can do. I've got peace, peace, peace in 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:41.360 my fingers. I'm gonna shake hands with you. I've 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:45.960 got words, words, words in my head Watch what 00:13:45.960 --> 00:13:51.799 I can do I've got words, words, words in my head 00:13:51.799 --> 00:13:55.539 I'm gonna talk things over with you I've got 00:13:55.539 --> 00:14:00.740 words, words, words in my head Watch what I can 00:14:00.740 --> 00:14:06.039 do I've got words, words, words in my head I'm 00:14:06.039 --> 00:14:09.990 gonna talk things over with you I've got love, 00:14:10.269 --> 00:14:16.190 love, love in my heart Watch what I can do I've 00:14:16.190 --> 00:14:20.750 got love, love, love in my heart I'm gonna give 00:14:20.750 --> 00:14:26.570 some to you I've got love, love, love in my heart 00:14:26.570 --> 00:14:32.370 Watch what I can do I've got love, love, love 00:14:32.370 --> 00:14:37.200 in my heart I'm gonna give some to you I've got 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:42.200 peace, peace, peace in my fingers. Words, words, 00:14:42.580 --> 00:14:46.700 words in my head. I've got love, love, love in 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:49.559 my heart. I'm gonna give song to you.