WEBVTT

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It is possible to be thankful every moment, every

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day. It is possible to be thankful every moment,

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every day. It takes practice and humility. Hi

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and welcome back to Tell Me What Happened, a

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podcast that features people from all walks of

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life telling us childhood stories. Those childhood

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stories that have impacted them in their lives

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as an adult. I'm your host, Jay Reheck, and like

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you, I've had my share of childhood experiences

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that have impacted me. Some of those experiences

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have been really positive, and some of them not

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so much. But whenever I tell a story, people

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who hear them understand me just a little bit

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better. And I think that's the goal of the show,

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is that when you hear these stories, you understand

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people just a little bit better. Tell Me What

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Happened is sponsored by Sidelining Publishing.

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Publishers of quality books including Susan Salador's,

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Children's Work, I've Got Peace in My Fingers

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available on Amazon or wherever quality books

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are sold. Tell Me What Happened is also sponsored

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by laughsaver .com. Visit laughsaver .com and

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record your laughter. We'll keep it for you now

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and forever. It's free. and your children and

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your grandchildren and your great -grandchildren

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will appreciate it. That's laughsaver .com. Go

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check it out. Record your laughter. All right,

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on with the show. Today I have as my guest a

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friend of mine. She's a product manager for a

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web app. She's also a very nice person. My guest,

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Kelly Gessner. Kelly, are you ready to tell your

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story? Yes, I am, Jay. I'm gonna stay out of

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the way then Kelly and let you tell your story.

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Okay, I was I think seven years old in first

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grade and this girl Olivia Perkins was new to

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our school district and we had a pencil case

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or something in the middle of this table for

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our desks and she it's like quiet reading time

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and she decides to make a ruckus and knock over

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the pencil case and like start cat like cackling

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and you know making loud noises and the teacher

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whoops around and Olivia Perkins points at me

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and says that I did it and obviously I didn't

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do it I'm very quiet maybe it's not obvious but

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I'm a very quiet polite kid and person and I

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was just shocked I was like obviously Mrs. Precht

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I did not do that I am a perfect angel and Mrs.

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Preck did not believe me. She believed Olivia

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Perkins and put me in the corner in timeout and

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I was the only kid that had to go in timeout

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in our whole little pond. There were like five

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of us. And I cried and cried and I was like,

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this is so unfair. This is crazy. And then maybe

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a year later, my dad is taking me out to lunch

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and there's all these stupid Perkins restaurants

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all over the place and he decides we're gonna

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go there and I really did not want to go there

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because Olivia Perkins basically got me in trouble

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ruined my perfect record and yeah I think I was

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having like my first anxiety attack when I was

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in that Perkins restaurant because I was just

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so like wary about it and then kind of forgot

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about it a few years later I'm hanging out with

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this new girl in middle school and I go back

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to her house and I walk in the door and Mrs.

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Precht is in her house and I was like what the

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heck is she doing here and I was like oh hey

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Mrs. Precht do you remember me and she's like

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oh of course I remember you and then the back

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of my head I'm going do you remember what you

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did to me unlawfully punishing me? and it ended

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up being this girl's grandmother. Mrs. Precht

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was this little girl's grandmother, and we really

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didn't hang out after that. I think my bias was

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way too strong, but she was nice, and it was

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a fine little play date, but I remember being

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utterly shocked that Mrs. Precht was in the house.

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I think it's also just, you know, it can be odd

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seeing your teachers outside of school. They're

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kind of mini celebrities, like, oh. You have

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a life out. You don't live in the classroom.

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So that was also, you know, a shock to me as

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well. But yeah, that's my story. So I feel so

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bad for that little seven year old Kelly or whatever,

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because you were planning on being the perfect

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child. Is it true? I think it might be true that

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your mother was a teacher. Is that right or no?

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Yes, my mother is also a teacher. So she she

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wasn't always a teacher. She used to be a hairdresser.

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So she was just becoming a teacher. when I was

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in first grade. And so she kind of knew what

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I was going through, but she also knew what Mrs.

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Pracht was going through and not knowing who

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to trust during that time. Well, anyway, that's

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a sad story. Can you just tell us how you think

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it's impacted you now as an adult? I know it

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impacted you in the sense you don't want to go

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to Perkins restaurants and then your play date

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was destroyed back in the middle school days.

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But how about right now? How is it still rattling

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around in your brain? I think it rattles around

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because when things happen when I'm on you know

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the side of Mrs. Precht when I look and see what's

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happening I always know that there's two sides

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to every story and so I try to get both sides

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and I think it'd be very interesting to get Olivia

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Perkins side of the story and just understand

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why she decided to make a ruckus in the middle

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of reading time and then blame it on me. I think

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there's probably a lot going on there and so

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yeah I think getting two sides to every story

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and letting your gut tell you really what was

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happening because I feel like if Mrs. Peck just

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had to let her gut tell her, you know, Kelly

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obviously didn't do this because I was honestly

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just such a good kid and I should have been way

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more, you know, sometimes I regret not being

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a little bit more rebellious, but that's just

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not who I am. All right. Well, thank you very

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much, Kelly. I enjoyed the story. Again, I feel

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bad for the little seven -year -old at the time,

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but you seem to be okay now, which is good. And

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I like the idea of learning to consider that

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there's another side to the story. And just in

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case Olivia Perkins is listening to this podcast,

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she is welcome to come onto the show and I would

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love to hear her version of the story. Although

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it sounds like she was just looking for somebody

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to take the responsibility for tumbling the pencils

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or whatever. Well, thank you very much for being

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on the show, Kelly. I enjoyed it. Thank you,

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Jay. Thanks for having me. All right. That's

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our show. Thank you, Kelly Gessner. Thank you

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to all of you for listening in. Thanks to our

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sponsors, laughsaver .com. Remember to go to

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laughsavers .com and record your laughter at

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laughsaver .com. We'll keep it for you that laughter

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now and forever. It's free and your grandchildren

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and your great grandchildren. And your great

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-great -grandchildren will thank you for it.

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That's laughsaber .com. Also, sidelining publishing.

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Publishers of quality books, including Scott

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Summa's timely work, Don't Act Like the President.

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And now we're going to end the show, as we almost

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always do, with Susan Salador's classic Every

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Moment, Every Day. Ask Alexa to play Susan Salador.

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So until next time, this is Jay Rehack asking

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you all to stay safe out there and try not to

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hurt anybody. It is possible to be thankful practice

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and humility it takes vision and civility it

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takes beauty and the wisdom to see it everywhere

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it takes practice and humility it takes vision

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and civility it takes beauty and the wisdom to

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see it everywhere it is possible to be thankful

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every moment every day