It is possible to be thankful every moment, every
day. It is possible to be thankful every moment,
every day. It takes practice and humility. Hi
and welcome back to Tell Me What Happened, a
podcast that features people from all walks of
life telling us childhood stories. Those childhood
stories that have impacted them in their lives
as an adult. I'm your host, Jay Reheck, and like
you, I've had my share of childhood experiences
that have impacted me. Some of those experiences
have been really positive, and some of them not
so much. But whenever I tell a story, people
who hear them understand me just a little bit
better. And I think that's the goal of the show,
is that when you hear these stories, you understand
people just a little bit better. Tell Me What
Happened is sponsored by Sidelining Publishing.
Publishers of quality books including Susan Salador's,
Children's Work, I've Got Peace in My Fingers
available on Amazon or wherever quality books
are sold. Tell Me What Happened is also sponsored
by laughsaver .com. Visit laughsaver .com and
record your laughter. We'll keep it for you now
and forever. It's free. and your children and
your grandchildren and your great -grandchildren
will appreciate it. That's laughsaver .com. Go
check it out. Record your laughter. All right,
on with the show. Today I have as my guest a
friend of mine. She's a product manager for a
web app. She's also a very nice person. My guest,
Kelly Gessner. Kelly, are you ready to tell your
story? Yes, I am, Jay. I'm gonna stay out of
the way then Kelly and let you tell your story.
Okay, I was I think seven years old in first
grade and this girl Olivia Perkins was new to
our school district and we had a pencil case
or something in the middle of this table for
our desks and she it's like quiet reading time
and she decides to make a ruckus and knock over
the pencil case and like start cat like cackling
and you know making loud noises and the teacher
whoops around and Olivia Perkins points at me
and says that I did it and obviously I didn't
do it I'm very quiet maybe it's not obvious but
I'm a very quiet polite kid and person and I
was just shocked I was like obviously Mrs. Precht
I did not do that I am a perfect angel and Mrs.
Preck did not believe me. She believed Olivia
Perkins and put me in the corner in timeout and
I was the only kid that had to go in timeout
in our whole little pond. There were like five
of us. And I cried and cried and I was like,
this is so unfair. This is crazy. And then maybe
a year later, my dad is taking me out to lunch
and there's all these stupid Perkins restaurants
all over the place and he decides we're gonna
go there and I really did not want to go there
because Olivia Perkins basically got me in trouble
ruined my perfect record and yeah I think I was
having like my first anxiety attack when I was
in that Perkins restaurant because I was just
so like wary about it and then kind of forgot
about it a few years later I'm hanging out with
this new girl in middle school and I go back
to her house and I walk in the door and Mrs.
Precht is in her house and I was like what the
heck is she doing here and I was like oh hey
Mrs. Precht do you remember me and she's like
oh of course I remember you and then the back
of my head I'm going do you remember what you
did to me unlawfully punishing me? and it ended
up being this girl's grandmother. Mrs. Precht
was this little girl's grandmother, and we really
didn't hang out after that. I think my bias was
way too strong, but she was nice, and it was
a fine little play date, but I remember being
utterly shocked that Mrs. Precht was in the house.
I think it's also just, you know, it can be odd
seeing your teachers outside of school. They're
kind of mini celebrities, like, oh. You have
a life out. You don't live in the classroom.
So that was also, you know, a shock to me as
well. But yeah, that's my story. So I feel so
bad for that little seven year old Kelly or whatever,
because you were planning on being the perfect
child. Is it true? I think it might be true that
your mother was a teacher. Is that right or no?
Yes, my mother is also a teacher. So she she
wasn't always a teacher. She used to be a hairdresser.
So she was just becoming a teacher. when I was
in first grade. And so she kind of knew what
I was going through, but she also knew what Mrs.
Pracht was going through and not knowing who
to trust during that time. Well, anyway, that's
a sad story. Can you just tell us how you think
it's impacted you now as an adult? I know it
impacted you in the sense you don't want to go
to Perkins restaurants and then your play date
was destroyed back in the middle school days.
But how about right now? How is it still rattling
around in your brain? I think it rattles around
because when things happen when I'm on you know
the side of Mrs. Precht when I look and see what's
happening I always know that there's two sides
to every story and so I try to get both sides
and I think it'd be very interesting to get Olivia
Perkins side of the story and just understand
why she decided to make a ruckus in the middle
of reading time and then blame it on me. I think
there's probably a lot going on there and so
yeah I think getting two sides to every story
and letting your gut tell you really what was
happening because I feel like if Mrs. Peck just
had to let her gut tell her, you know, Kelly
obviously didn't do this because I was honestly
just such a good kid and I should have been way
more, you know, sometimes I regret not being
a little bit more rebellious, but that's just
not who I am. All right. Well, thank you very
much, Kelly. I enjoyed the story. Again, I feel
bad for the little seven -year -old at the time,
but you seem to be okay now, which is good. And
I like the idea of learning to consider that
there's another side to the story. And just in
case Olivia Perkins is listening to this podcast,
she is welcome to come onto the show and I would
love to hear her version of the story. Although
it sounds like she was just looking for somebody
to take the responsibility for tumbling the pencils
or whatever. Well, thank you very much for being
on the show, Kelly. I enjoyed it. Thank you,
Jay. Thanks for having me. All right. That's
our show. Thank you, Kelly Gessner. Thank you
to all of you for listening in. Thanks to our
sponsors, laughsaver .com. Remember to go to
laughsavers .com and record your laughter at
laughsaver .com. We'll keep it for you that laughter
now and forever. It's free and your grandchildren
and your great grandchildren. And your great
-great -grandchildren will thank you for it.
That's laughsaber .com. Also, sidelining publishing.
Publishers of quality books, including Scott
Summa's timely work, Don't Act Like the President.
And now we're going to end the show, as we almost
always do, with Susan Salador's classic Every
Moment, Every Day. Ask Alexa to play Susan Salador.
So until next time, this is Jay Rehack asking
you all to stay safe out there and try not to
hurt anybody. It is possible to be thankful practice
and humility it takes vision and civility it
takes beauty and the wisdom to see it everywhere
it takes practice and humility it takes vision
and civility it takes beauty and the wisdom to
see it everywhere it is possible to be thankful
every moment every day