Latest / From My Mistakes / Blue Kool-Aid
Transcript
- Steve: Hello everyone and welcome to the inaugural episode of the From My Mistakes podcast. My name is Steve Lawrence and I will be your host for the show. we're just gonna jump right into it. So I'm gonna start everything off by explaining the title a little bit, what the show is about and what we're what the outlook is for the show, what the purpose is and what I'm hoping to get out of it. so, you know, the to explain the title a little bit, From My Mistakes. that comes directly from a phrase that we've all heard or a phrase that we've you know, we've probably all used is learn from my mistakes. You know, when you're talking to someone else, be it a you know, a coworker, a manager, a boss, a parent, a child, you know, whatever whatever the situation may be, you know, at at some point you might have found yourself saying, I hope you learn from my mistakes or I hope you learn from your mistakes or even if you're just kind of talking to yourself you just say out loud, you know, I it's okay, I learned from my mistakes. you know, we've all we've all had those moments. so when I initially wanted to start this show, the original title I came up with was Just Because You Can. And again, that's another phrase that majority of us have heard or even used, just because you can doesn't mean you should. and that's what I wanna talk about with this podcast is Talking about those moments in in life where you made a decision or you know, you took an action and you thought to yourself afterwards, just because I could have done that doesn't mean I should have done that. and we've all again, that's something that all of us have been through. We've all made decisions, we've all made mistakes, we've all had those moments where we think back to ourselves about just because I could have done that doesn't mean I should have done that. and hopefully you learn something from that. and that's kinda what I wanna talk about. Actually it is what I wanna talk about. you know, being able to to look back on certain things and being able to talk about it and then being able to share it with others and hoping that maybe your story will help someone else out. and that kinda goes right into the next thing I wanna talk about is You there's there's two things that I learned you know, over my forty plus years being you know, being on this earth and you just never know what people are going through and how your words can affect them. I have a Bible verse that I kinda wanna share with y'all. It's Proverbs eighteen twenty one and that's death and life are in the power of the tongue. and I say that because again, you just never know what people are going through at that time in their life and you know, hearing that they're not alone or hearing that they're not the only ones going through a situation or you know, hearing that somebody else, went through that and came out on the other side of it can be very uplifting. It can be it can be a blessing to someone, whether you know them or not. and that's what I'm hoping to get out of this and hoping to accomplish is being able to tell not only my story, but at some point being able to interview other people and let them share their story and in hopes that, it'll reach somebody and and it'll make a difference in their in their lives in a positive way. that's kind of what I wanted to talk about. And then also, you know, there's this There's a thing, there's a saying, a phrase that my dad used to use all the time when I was growing up, and that was Life will show you better than I could ever tell you. and that's something that I hold on to to this day. It's something that I've even, you know, I've used that phrase talking to my kids, you know, telling them, you know, life will show you better than I could ever tell you. And that's kind of one of those things that I wanna be able to talk about, shout out to my dad for dropping that knowledge on me. but you know, yeah, I that's that's just kind of a couple of things that I wanted to to outline and talk about and just kinda where I'm wanting to go with this podcast. So well without further ado Just kind of get right into it. I've got a couple of stories lined up to tell y'all and hopefully y'all enjoy they're a little bit more on the on the funny side of things, not not necessarily so serious, but I hope y'all enjoy anyways. So I'm gonna start things off by actually telling a story about when I used to work at Quick Trip, back when I was nineteen, twenty years old. so I used to work at Quick Trip right after I got out of high school and honestly one of my favorite jobs. It was a great job I used to have. I I actually love that job. but anyways, so I was working the morning shift this particular day and there was a young lady that had come into the store and you know everybody's familiar. If you've been to Quick Trip, you're you're familiar with when everybody comes into the door. somebody will greet you, usually the person that's standing right there behind the register. you know, everybody that comes through those doors gets greeted. and that was just the company policy. so the company policy also was just to say hello to everybody, just kind of an acknowledgement of the fact that, you know, hey, we we see you, we know you're here. and that's you know, got its own purposes behind that. I took it just a little bit of a step further and whenever people would come in the door I would always say, Hey, how are you doing? You know, everybody would come in, I'd you know, hey, hello, how you doing? Or sometimes just just asking how they're doing. on this particular day, it was probably two, three o'clock in the afternoon and a young lady came in through the door and like always, you know, I greeted her, I said, Hey, how you doing? And she stopped in her tracks. She looked at me and she said, I am doing well. How are you? And in response, I said, I'm doing well. I'm doing good as well. And she said, You're the first person that has asked me that all day. and the look on her face and, you know, just d her entire demeanor, from the time she walked into the door to that in that quick interaction, you know, it I I could see that it it changed just a little bit, you know, just somebody asking how she's doing. I have no idea what the rest of her day looked like, you know, before or even after that. But I know that it had a positive impact on her just in that quick ten, fifteen second interaction that we had and You know, that's something that I've always held on to because again, like I said, you never know what people are going through and you never know how your words can affect them. And something just as simple as asking s you know, somebody how they're doing can make all the difference in the world. so just wanted to put that story out there, just kinda let y'all know and just to be you know, kinda be a a a little more mindful of how you interact with people 'cause you just never know what they're going through. And sometimes I get it. It's a little it's a little difficult to do 'cause you know, the way in people interact with you and the way you interact with people kinda reflects that. But you know, if we try to just be more mindful of that and try to be more loving towards one another, then I think it'll go a long way. And you never know when it will. So You take that for what it's worth. so the couple of stories that I wanna get into. these are two stories that one of we had to reach way back into my childhood, when I was I'm I'm not even sure, eight, nine years old. I'm sure my mom, shout out to my mom, would be able to give you a more accurate description of how old I was. But this is the story of the one time that I stuck a cherry pit into my ear. Yes. Yes. I don't don't ask me what I was thinking or why I did it. I just for some reason thought it would be a good idea to stick a cherry pit in my ear. so I have no idea, like I said, where I even got the idea from. But my mom used to love cherries. She used to eat all the time. She used to buy all the time. one day I'm not sure again where I got the bright idea to take one of those cherry seeds and stick it in my ear to see what would happen and it got stuck in there and it got stuck in there for a couple days. I didn't tell anybody about it either. I just was walking around with a you know a s a cherry seed stuck in my ear And the only reason that it was discovered was so I was doing some housework and I was actually vacuuming the house and my mom was trying to talk to me and she was trying to get my attention and I I think she thought that maybe I couldn't hear her over the vacuum cleaner. but she asked me, she's like, What you know, what's going on with you? Like why why why can't you hear me? Like what What is going on? Like you need to clean the wax out of your ears. And I just had this look on my face. you know, she saw that look on my face and was wondering like why why would I like why do I have that look on my face when she said something about my ears? So A couple of minutes later she's like, you know, come in, let me you know, like, what's going on with you? So I was hesitant to, you know, go over and tell her, like, Hey, by the way, I've I've been walking around for the past two or three days with a cherry pit stuck in my ear. so I got up to her and she took a look in my ears and lo and behold, the you know, there's a there's a cherry pit stuck in my ear and Obviously she's, you know, kind of freaking out about it. Like, what the hell? What is this? Like and I'm just like, Well, you know, I thought it'd be a bright idea to stick a cherry pit in my ear and then I couldn't get it out. And I think I actually might have made it worse trying to take it out. but naturally, you know, we we w she went right into we need to get this, you know, taken care of mode. So you know, w once that happened, you know, she took tried to, you know, get some water or like a a one of those squirt tubes or something, or or just, you know, like a bobby pin to see if she could maybe get around it to try to pull it out and nothing worked. And also I just wouldn't keep still 'cause I was just, you know, nervous and I was kind of freaking out about it. So we ended up having to go to the hospital to get this thing removed. so, you know, we go to the hospital and they end up basically flushing my ear out with warm water and end up, you know, getting it removed and obviously, you know, at the time my mom is not thrilled about the fact that we had to go to the hospital to get this thing removed. And it was one of the dumber things that I had done at that time. so yeah, I the lesson there and the reason why I wanted to talk about it, 'cause it was one hundred percent a just because you can moment. you know, just because you can stick a cherry pit in your ear doesn't mean you should. And the lesson that I I hope, you know, people take from that, I think it's actually, you know, kind of self explanatory, is do not stick foreign objects in your in your orifices, we'll say. kids they tend to want to try things out that they probably should not. But you know, I coming up, I was one of those kids that you know, that everybody's heard the story of, you know, your parents tell you, don't touch the stove, it's hot. And, you know, me being me, and I I was I was always that kid that still had to touch it just to find out if it was hot. You know, a lot of times my mom used to say, my mom used to say you don't believe fat meat and greasy. but that was always her saying. So yeah, that's, you know, the story of the time I s I stuck a cherry pit in my ear. and the lesson that I learned from that. stay away from foreign objects and they they definitely do not belong. they do not belong inside your body. Unless you're, you know, actually just eating it, but even if you're eating you probably shouldn't be swallowing cherry pits either. So yeah, that's that's the story of the cherry pit. like I said, I feel like a lot of people learn that from an early age. you know, I don't feel like I really need to tell a bunch of adults not to not to stick foreign objects in there. in their openings. but, you know, you never know. Maybe somebody might need to hear that story. But I thought it was a a good icebreaker for you know getting this thing started. so I'm gonna go right into the the second moment. you know, this the second just because you can moment that I had. this one I was in high school for. I think I was in I don't know, I'm not sure, tenth, maybe eleventh grade, but this was another situation where I d did something that I would come to come to regret almost immediately. I I still kinda laugh about it to this day, but it was it was pretty funny. And that's the story of the blue Kool-Aid. which is the title to this episode. That's why this episode is named Blue Kool-Aid. so You know, when I was in high school, you know, we've all done it. You know, we've all, been peer pressured into doing something that may not be necessarily the smartest idea. something that you may, you know, that you think is funny or whatever the case may be. And that was basically this situation. So I was in math class one day and, you know, I don't know how many people are familiar with this, but back when I was in high school the popular thing to do was bringing Kool Aid in a Ziploc bag. You know, 'cause if you're familiar with fun dip, which is what, you know, was like the name brand candy or whatnot, used to get, you know, this little candy stick and then some powder that was kinda like Kool Aid and you would take the the stick, dip it in the powder, and then that's how you would eat the powder, basically. That's where the flavor came from. The stick didn't have any flavor. The powder that came with it had all the flavor with it. So, if you're familiar with those showing your age a little bit and so am I. But that's kinda where the idea came from now. It was kind of just easier to you know, take a packet of Kool-Aid, put dump it in a in a Ziploc bag, and then take a little bit of sugar, mix it all in there, and then you got yourself a little homemade fun dip, basically. So one day I had brought some blue Kool Aid in a Ziploc bag to school. You kinda use it for y you know, just stick your finger in there or take a take a blow pop and put it in there and, you know, just eat it like that, kinda like like I said, like a fun dip. So I don't know why I listened to my friend on this particular day, but he dared me to take a small to take a small amount of this Kool-Aid and snorted. Yes. Yes. This is the story of the time that I snorted blue Kool-Aid in the middle of math class. So we're in we're in class and he notices that I have this this little bag of blue Kool-Aid and he you know, he kind of taps me on the shoulder and was Hey, I bet you you know, I bet you won't or you know, I bet you won't, you know, sniff that. I bet you won't put a little bit of it up your nose. You know, me being me at the time. I did not I didn't really you know, my frontal lobe wasn't fully developed yet. So you know, I didn't really put any thought into this might not be a good idea. I just kinda heard the I bet you won't and just kinda went, okay, like you're on. So I took a little bit, or I I grabbed about a I grabbed a a pretty healthy pinch, put it in the middle of my palm and it took me a couple, you know, I I kinda hesitated to do it. But then at at some point I just was, you know, I was like, all right, we're we're just gonna go for it. And I did. And I took just a a huge just a huge whiff of this blue Kool-Aid and immediately, immediately regretted it. s I started sneezing uncontrollably, coughing everywhere. There's blue snot coming out of my nose. I'm sneezing, I'm coughing, I'm I am just having a fit in the middle of class. And my math teacher, who also happened to be our defensive back coach on the football team, yes, I was on the football team. No, I was not good. But he he's looking at me and ha and the whole class is looking at me 'cause I'm just having this this uncontrollable fit and he's looking at me and my buddy, JB sitting behind me and he is just absolutely cracking up dying laughing. And I'm just I'm trying to to stop coughing, to stop sneezing, and there's like I said, there's just blue, just blue snot and blue everything just going everywhere. And my teacher is just absolutely livid like 'cause I'm interrupting class and I'm I'm just creating this huge distraction. Also I just did the dumbest thing I think I had done in high school, which was, you know, sticking blue blue Kool Aid up my nose. but It was it was a terrible situation and I immediately regretted it. It was it was absolutely terrible. But you know, it's still something that I kinda look back on and I I laugh about it now. But I again I still I don't know I honestly I say I I say I I don't know what I was thinking, but let's be honest here. I wasn't thinking. Like I said, I heard I bet you won't and just kinda went right for it. So yeah, that that's the story of the time that I sniffed blue Kool-Aid. and that was definitely a just because you can moment. You know, just because you can snort Kool-Aid doesn't mean you should. Or, let's be honest, anything else for that matter. but that was my introduction to s such an activity and that was a lesson that I learned, another lesson that I learned about putting foreign objects into your body through you know, other means besides, just eating. you know, your nose is not meant to take objects in only to to you know, to to breathe. but yeah, that's the the lesson that comes from that is pretty much the same lesson as the first story that I told let's let's keep the keep the foreign objects out of our out of our openings. yeah, that's that's the story of the time I I snorted Blue Kool-Aid. again I hope I hope, somebody hears that and learns a lesson from it or, you know, just gets a a little bit of comedic relief from the very dumb decision that I made to to this Nort Blue Kool Aid that day. And I don't know if my old math teacher is ever gonna hear this, but I'm sorry for the disruption. so yeah, that's pretty much kinda how I wanna to go about this podcast. just, you know, s sitting here and sitting back and talking about just those just because you can moments that that I've had and being able to give people a platform to talk about the moments that they had. Now, every one of them are not always gonna be funny. there are some more serious situations that that I have. I've got a entire list of episodes and I actually can't wait to share a lot of them, which I can't wait to share all of with y'all. But that's that's the goal for this podcast is I wanna be able to tell the stories that I have lined up and also give people an an opportunity to talk about their just because you can moment and give them an opportunity to talk about those things in in hopes that somebody would learn from their mistakes. and that's again, that's kind of what I I'm hoping for with this episode. That's what I'm hoping to gain out of this podcast is to be able to help someone to bless somebody, whether I know them or not and and just being able to share a story with them or share a situation with them in the hopes that it reaches them and it it helps them in in some way. so we'll just kinda, you know, recap what we talked about today. So, you know, I talked about the story about the cherry pit and the story of the blue Kool-Aid. I again I hope everybody enjoyed those and I hope everybody learned something from my mistakes on on today's episode. so next episode plan to put out and record next week. I'm hoping to make this a weekly thing. if you know, start gaining some traction here, we can do more than just one episode a week. but I just wanted to kinda get this out there, get things started, get get it off the ground and just to kind of put it on everybody's radar and in hopes that, you know, people do you know join me on this on this journey. and hopefully again, like I said, I I can start to get some guests. Like I you know, just some people from my church, people from my past, you know, people that I served in the military with, you know, family members, friends, things of that nature. you know, just to get people on and give them an opportunity to talk and give them an opportunity to share whatever story it is they want to share. Again, it it doesn't have to be something super serious. It doesn't have to be something super funny. It can be anything you you want to talk about, a moment. a just because moment that you that you have that you don't mind talking about and that you hope that someone can learn from your mistakes. you know, as we go forward we'll we'll get into that a little bit more and like I said I've got some other stories lined up that I wanna share and just hope that y'all I hope that y'all enjoyed this one and I hope y'all will enjoy all the future episodes that we have lined up. So again I definitely appreciate y'all taking the time to to give it a listen. and hopefully y'all will come back for the next one. but again just want to say thank y'all for joining me for this episode. and I'm gonna close it out with the same phrase that my dad, shout out to my dad, would tell me all the time, and that is life will show you. better than anyone can tell you. so until next time, this has been the From My Mistakes podcast. Hope you all have a good one.