August 6, 2024 • 36 mins
We’re driving headfirst into the madness of small-town first days of school, where the struggle is real, and the stories are even realer. First up, we're tackling the epic adventures of back-to-school shopping. Because nothing says "new school year" like parents losing their minds over sold-out unicorn binders and the great quest for the elusive Disney Princess backpack.
We're sharing our own cringeworthy first-day stories that will make you want to crawl under your desk. From wardrobe malfunctions, epic fails, and possibly a kidnapping...we’ve got the goods to make your worst first-day memories feel like a walk in the park.
Speaking of parks, let’s not forget the wild safari that is the school parking lot during drop-off and pick-up. We explore the art of dodging minivans, surviving the gauntlet of frazzled parents, and the ultimate challenge: finding a parking spot without causing a traffic jam or an exposed middle finger.
Join Jessica and Karmen as they relive the unspoken dress codes, the social hierarchies, and the desperate attempts to avoid becoming the subject of that year's running joke. Grab your Trapper Keeper, your best (or worst) first-day outfit, and a healthy dose of nostalgia and join us in this episode. Don't miss your exit.
Visit us:
www.smalltownusashow.com
Follow us:
Twitter --> https://twitter.com/smalltownusashw
Instagram --> https://www.instagram.com/smalltownusashow/
Summer is here. Dress up your backyard in style. Check out our new partner, Grand Patio, here ---> grandpatio.sjv.io/smalltown
Follow 19 Media Group:
Twitter: @19MGroup
Instagram: 19mediagroup
https://www.19MediaGroup.com
Discover our favorite podcast gear and support the show—shop our studio must-haves on our Amazon Affiliate page! https://www.amazon.com/shop/19mediagroup
Want to join the conversation or invite us to your platform? Connect with us and share your vision (budget-friendly collaborations welcome)! https://bit.ly/19Guest
We're sharing our own cringeworthy first-day stories that will make you want to crawl under your desk. From wardrobe malfunctions, epic fails, and possibly a kidnapping...we’ve got the goods to make your worst first-day memories feel like a walk in the park.
Speaking of parks, let’s not forget the wild safari that is the school parking lot during drop-off and pick-up. We explore the art of dodging minivans, surviving the gauntlet of frazzled parents, and the ultimate challenge: finding a parking spot without causing a traffic jam or an exposed middle finger.
Join Jessica and Karmen as they relive the unspoken dress codes, the social hierarchies, and the desperate attempts to avoid becoming the subject of that year's running joke. Grab your Trapper Keeper, your best (or worst) first-day outfit, and a healthy dose of nostalgia and join us in this episode. Don't miss your exit.
Visit us:
www.smalltownusashow.com
Follow us:
Twitter --> https://twitter.com/smalltownusashw
Instagram --> https://www.instagram.com/smalltownusashow/
Summer is here. Dress up your backyard in style. Check out our new partner, Grand Patio, here ---> grandpatio.sjv.io/smalltown
Follow 19 Media Group:
Twitter: @19MGroup
Instagram: 19mediagroup
https://www.19MediaGroup.com
Discover our favorite podcast gear and support the show—shop our studio must-haves on our Amazon Affiliate page! https://www.amazon.com/shop/19mediagroup
Want to join the conversation or invite us to your platform? Connect with us and share your vision (budget-friendly collaborations welcome)! https://bit.ly/19Guest
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Navigating to small town USA workers.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
For one, are we Chalian?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Hello Jessica, Hi Carbon.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
What better time to reconnect the first day of school,
right at.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Least in Arizona. Right, first day of school in Arizona.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, early, Yeah, I bet you. It's hard for the
little kids, well I mean even big kids to go
back to school and it's still summer.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I know, it's so hot it feels like summer. But
when did you used to go back to school, Carmen,
Like what.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I always felt like it was September.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Yeah, yeah, I was definitely September, And I think that's
true for some most states still is after Labor Day
and some days they have like that rule like you
can't start school till after Labor Day.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
But right, because we used to do school clothes shopping,
uh huh, and it was like winter stuff, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
But I also lived where it was cold.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah, me too, So there was like.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Nobody wearing shorts to school when I went to school.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
You know what's funny is that I know that we
still wore shorts even in the winter. Really, oh yeah,
because we were like we wanted to be in a
warm client climate in our uh our area code right
and up in Michigan, we always wanted to be like
even the winter. I still have memories of like going
(01:56):
to the car in flip flops and my mom yelling
at me, like, don't be wearing flip flops to school.
It's you're in the snow. It's below, it's like twenty below.
But I didn't want to wear boots in high school.
You know, that wasn't the thing to do. I wanted
to have like my Adidas now they call them what
uh something, slides? They call them slides. Now, I want
(02:17):
my slides. No, like those Adidas slides, like you slide
your foot in. It was still like popular then, and
I guess it's pretty popular again.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
But you know, anywhere else they're very popular. Huh County
Jail slides.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Yeah, they issue they issue, not probably Adidas Adidas. Yeah,
they do issue a plastic slide that can be I
guess run through a dishwasher when people are done using them.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Oh I suppose. Yeah, something that's like silicone wouldn't melt.
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
They have like a fake woven plastic weave on. Oh yeah,
ask me how I know?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
How do you know?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I'm just kidding guys. Well, first of all, I worked
with a gentleman who had been in the Pema County jail,
gotch in my social work sort of stuff, and he
was he had the worst feet, like the absolute grossest feet.
(03:29):
If you picture the worst feet you've ever seen, and
then multiply it by five, those are his feet. Like
his toenails were not just long, but they were like,
oh curly, and they were like, yeah, like little tubes
of death. This yo yellow flaky tubes of death. Just
(03:55):
I picture just bacteria. I would I imagine a Komodo
dragon would be like, I am not fucking with those feet. No,
that's how creepy his feet were, right.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
And he went to Pema County Jail and he they
let him keep the shoes, and he would tell people
all the time. We'd be at the grocery store and
he'd be like, I went to Pema County Jail and
they gave me these shoes. Would you believe I got
these shoes for free at the Pima County Jail. Wasn't
that mass of them to let me keep the shoes?
(04:33):
And it's like, oh my gosh, I'm sure that there's
not a dishwasher alive that could heat up to kill
the bacteria on those shoes. They were just like take them,
take them, yeah, just go, please, don't come back.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
When you do bring them.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, how do your toenails get that long?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I don't know, and yellow?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
You know, it's not just people who go to Pema
County Jail that have those types of feet. But yeah,
that's a clear sign of maybe like somebody's mental illness
maybe I don't know, or just an aversion to not
being cleanly and things like that.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
But still, or maybe maybe it's a weapon. I mean,
because honestly, maybe it's a weapon. Yeah, you're somebody with
those toenails. I'm sure they.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Think they're like some kind of superhero, not a superhero,
you know, like an anti hero kind of situation, right.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah, toenail man. I mean honestly, like if you scratch
somebody with those toenails or like stuck them into somebody's leg,
I'm sure they would like crawl in the alley and
die within forty eight hours.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Oh yeah, yeah, I'm just saying.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, So back to school anyway.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
School shopping for new shoes.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I remember when your I got these really cool boots.
Oh my god, they were brown leather boots. Well they
weren't real leather, they were leather, and they had a
zipper on the side and they had the slightest little heel.
Oh my god, I thought I thought for sure I
(06:25):
was definitely going to be recruited to, you know, with
Share or something. Yeah, my god. Yeah, they were so
so cool and.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Back to school shopping was so important, right, like to
make sure.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
You were important.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, like, you know, you kind of wanted what the
other kids had, but you also kind of wanted to
stand out. And the pressure, the freaking pressure of that
first day. Yeah, everybody calling, everybody, even in like grade school, Yeah,
what are you wearing tomorrow? What are you wearing tomorrow?
My gosh, it's a secret. But I remember those boots.
(07:05):
That was was that kindergarten, But I remember those boots.
And I had some denim gauchos and nights yeah, and
a gold turtleneck and a denim vest that I wore
with those boots. And believe me, I was hot. Shit.
(07:32):
I remember strutting down to the bus stop. Oh my god,
my lunch box. I was pretty sure people thought I
was at least seven.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I don't remember carrying as much until I think about
clothes anyways, until probably like fourth or fifth grade. I
remember I remember wanting to make sure that I had
clothes like everybody else. But till then, I think I
let my mom dress me for the most part. Really,
I remember the clothes I used to wear, and I
(08:06):
remember looking at the pictures going, oh my god, like
wearing the I think we've talked about this before with
like the big sweatshirts, the big baggy sweatshirts in the
nineties or the eighties and nineties both, and the leggings
that actually wrapped around your foot, you know, had like
a little like strap to stay on and you know,
(08:26):
to go into your shoes. So basically, I don't know
what they were thinking, Like we're thinking leggings were going
to kind of pull up or we're going to lose
them or.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
What that's actually called a boot strap? Oh yeah, they're
intended to be so they don't slip off in your boots,
you know, so they don't strutch up.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah I suppose. Yeah, So like, yeah, that's true. I
guess not everybody has this problem in Arizona. But when
you wear boots and you have leggings on, it can
go up rather than coming down the other direction, right,
But yeah, I remember wearing those a lot.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Do you remember when your tights would get just a
little bit too small, but you had to wear them anyway.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Like you come down and it would be like, yeah, it'd.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
You like crotch a lot, just like that awkward air
gap between your crotch and your tights.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Yes, yeah, that the butto like where it was supposed
to be on your crotch compared to where it was
like down at your knees.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
You had to watter kind of like a penguin a
little bit. Yeah, you look like a child with a
full diaper. That's pretty much.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
We kind of were children with full diapers. They were
full of air. But yeah, yeah, yeah, ah, I remember
I got these one tights Jessica that were so lovely.
This was in fifth grade and I remember this outfit too,
so it was also gold I had al Yeah, like
(09:54):
for some reason I had a lot of golden rod
and sunflower colored clothing. Perhaps my mom thought it brought
out my eyes. Now, my mom bought my clothes, but
I got to choose during the day, you know. Oh, okay, yes,
fifth grade, and I had this very cute uh what
do they call them? Broomstick skirts? Uh huh yeah, okay,
(10:18):
so very popular and it was like brown with little
flowers on it. And I had my a different gold turtleneck,
and I had very cool gold tights that were like
sweater material. Yeah, they were so cozy, they were, but
(10:40):
they were so cozy that they would slip down.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And sure, yeah, because they were much softer, I can.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
There were waste, yeah, and they fit. These were long enough,
you know, they had enough length and so I didn't
have a crotch a lot. And I remember playing Miss
pac Man yeah at the seven eleven before school and
very elegantly just reaching behind and uh pulling, pulling my
(11:12):
dight up, yeah, and then pulling my skirt down and
talking my turtleneck back in. And there was a guy
at the register who saw me and he like made
the motion like he was pulling his tights up to
I was mortified. It's just like, you know what, I'm
(11:32):
in fifth grade, dude, why are you watching me play
Miss pac Man? Pervert?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Anyway, Yeah, I think it's like middle school though, Like
middle school for me was like okay, I really started
carrying a lot more about what I was doing in
the first day, Like I I know that in elementary school,
I was calling my friends, like who's class are you in?
You know whose class are you in? How you found out?
Like who's going to be in your class? And you're
(12:01):
trying to like decide, Oh my gosh, okay, who are
my friends going to be this year? Oh who am
I gonna sit? How am I gonna sit with?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Anybody?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
And I can tell you my first day. I know
that I was. I don't remember being nervous, but I
know that I was nervous because I remember my first
day of first I think it was first grade. It
was the first full day because we used to have
half day kindergarten, so it was the first full day,
and I sat next to my friend from kindergarten. I
remember that her name was Danny, and I sat next
to her. And we were at Northlake Elementary School, which
(12:30):
is no longer doesn't exist anymore, but we were downstairs
in the basement was the first grade room, and I
remember smelling the I was nervous, and I remember smelling
like the cafeteria was right next door, and it was
like at breakfast. He smells, or they're cooking lunch or something,
you know, like the peas and carrots was already being
(12:52):
cooked that early in the morning. Block you know, the
awful cafeteria smell that I had. I did not have
good lunches, and we would go. I was in there
and I threw up all over my desk. Birthday of
first grade. I was just so nervous. I remember that,
you know, I don't remember the lead up to that.
(13:14):
I just know that I must have been like nervous,
and that smell just got to me and yeah, threw
Did I get sent home?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
No, no, no, send us home? Then went to the
nurse's office and laid down for thirty minutes, and then
you went back to class.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I don't even know if I did. I think the
teacher cleaned it up.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I want to say, God bless teachers. God bless good teachers.
I will say good teachers. Some teachers suck and they
should retire. Yeah, right, you should never be teachers. But
I mean, teachers do a lot of stuff, and I think, yeah,
I think it's amazing how much they contribute to, like
just our children. And the teachers that I had that
(13:54):
I remember and I love you.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Remember the ones, right, I remember the ones that really
had more of an packed on me. I remember. Hey,
So I don't know were you. Did your teachers ever
do this? Okay? So I had really good teachers and
it wasn't a creepy thing or anything. Okay, but my
fourth and fifth grade teachers would do stuff after school
with us, And I don't did your teachers ever do
(14:18):
that with you? Like they like, let's get time. Okay.
So here's I know this is going to sound weird
to you, but it really wasn't this weird thing. Like
every once in a while, a group of us would
get together with my teacher and we'd go skiing, like
cross country skiing after school, he would, you know, and
then for pizza.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah that's good. Who what how old were you?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Fourth grade? Fourth grade?
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah? I don't think i'd be letting my kid go.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Well see now I asked my mom about that, and
it was weird because everybody got to and there was
nothing weird about it.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Now, my fifth grade, don't you remember? No?
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I remember?
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Okay, maybe there's some girls that don't.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Well here's the other thing. So in fifth grade, my
teacher who my family knew very well because the small towns. Remember,
we would we went to camp with him in groups. Again,
(15:23):
he was a family friend of ours, and we would
go in groups and with like four or five at
a time each like spread out through the whole year,
and it was a part of the school, like the
school approved it.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
But see, but we went snowshoeing. I mean, okay, went snowshoeing.
We cooked like all this stuff on a campfire, and
it was like a little retreat for each each weekend
for my grid And now I think in my head,
like nowadays that would never happen, first of all, but
(15:55):
also it was a fun experience for me to be
with my friends, yeah and have my have it be
a totally different adult. They're a teacher, right, So it
was just interesting that that kind of thing was familiar
and everybody looked forward to that event.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
As a fifth grader, oh yeah, I mean we had
events like that where we would go camping. We would
uh learn we learned how to rock climb and repel
when we were like in fifth grade, and we learned
avalanche safety. We learned what to do if your canoe
tips over, and like we practiced. That was pretty exciting
(16:35):
because we got to go to the high school swimming pool. Sure, sure,
it was really amazing.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yeah, this was only my fifth grade class, like there
were other fifth grade classes. This was this teacher who no,
he was a grade teacher too. That's the other part
of it. Was a part of our learning whatever we
were learning about. As previous to that. My fourth grade
teacher was amazing too, Like he he liked baseball and
(17:04):
so and like World War two. So I was our
class was like a World War two like trivia phenomen
you know, where we were like answering questions, singing the
wartime songs for things we knew there's one hundred and
eight stitches in a baseball and who like all these
things about baseball and World War two because that was
he related it back to things we were learning, right,
(17:27):
and so it stuck with me and the fun and
he was just a fun teacher right right. And we
did these things where he invited people kids out to ski,
go for pizza afterwards, whatever. And I think about it,
I'm like, you know, I think my mom was probably
like hesitant about it, but she's still let me do it.
And the other thing is, I don't think I would
(17:48):
let my daughter do it now unless the principal emailed
me and said, this is a school a proof thing
and we need volunteers, and we got a you know,
and here's what the girls are doing, here's what the
boys are doing. I mean, things are just so different now.
There was no questioning at that time.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, I mean people kids were getting righte left and
right in the sixties and seventies and eighties. I mean,
you know, I'm not saying that your teachers, but yeah,
there's no the awareness or the protection for children. I
think now they've probably become overprotective, you know, quite honestly,
so like kids don't even know how to fend for themselves,
(18:25):
you know, it's like, yeah, God, God help a child
if you know they're ever faced with some horrible situation,
because they just I mean, we're pretty street savvy. Were
say that we didn't get hurt or put in dangerous situations.
But I think we were able to handle them much
differently than kids today. We did have you know, in
(18:48):
my fourth I guess fifth grade, Yeah, it was, it
was right around there. And those were just a select
group of teachers. There was like two husband and wife
teacher teams, and they taught different grades, but they taught
us all of those things. Yeah, because they loved hiking,
they loved going out into the wilderness, and they did
relay all of that back to like Earth science and.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, I mean it was like a real experience. And
even I was in high school, there was still a
lot of that, but not quite to that extreme. I
would say things had started to change by that time.
But I have to tell you we talked about first days.
I want to tell you this story. I don't know
if I've ever told you this, but maybe I've told
you this, but I don't know if I ever told
you this on air. I have a really really particular
(19:35):
memory that has stuck with me about a first day
of school, and it's the same thing, like I was
calling everybody, you know, it was my very first day
of high school as a freshman. I was so nervous
about it because, well, freaking high school. First of all,
it's a totally different atmosphere. And when you're a teenaged girl,
you're worried about like a million things that you shouldn't
(19:56):
really be worried about, but like basically your perception, how
you're dressing, you know, everything and boys, of course. So
one of the things that we did was to kind
of ease my nerves was I invited a friend to
sleep over for the first day so we could sleep over,
and then we were going to go to school together,
(20:18):
so I wouldn't have to worry about waiting for somebody
at the door. Where's my friends? Where am I gonna
sit for the assembly the first day? You know, I
was just so nervous. So I had a friend sleepover
and she came over for dinner, and we got everything
set up for the morning, and.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
My dog.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Ran outside and he didn't get loose, but he was
on like we had this long like we had a
big backyard, so a long chain that extended through a
backyard so he could run around still, but he was
still like not going to get out. And all of
a sudden, you hear I think it was my mom.
(20:57):
She smelt skunk, and she was like, because she's a
he was our dog, and he freaking got sprayed by
a skunk in the face, and he came in. He
had to get come in. And then I don't know
if you've ever smelled skunk that close before, but it's
not like driving by in the road and going ooh,
(21:18):
that's a skunk, Like, oh, that's six. It's like a
whole different experience when it's right in front of you,
and that that whole house smelled like skunk, and everything
in it was starting to get attached to this smell.
And I remember thinking, oh my god, I am going
(21:39):
to go to school and smell like a freaking skunk.
So and my friend too. So we were in my
room and I barricaded. I did he were? I told
my mom, I'm not getting out until school tomorrow. We
took everything inside of my room, barricaded any crevices that
would allow things the scent flow, so like towels everywhere,
(22:01):
putting in the door. Oh but you know, anything that
could allow that smell to come into our room. So
we were safe. We were like in the safe zone.
And uh So what happened was I thought we were
pretty safe, but then we went to school and I'm like,
I smell something, you know. That morning we were like
in the car and I'm like, oh my god, do
(22:23):
we smell? I smell in my hair. I'm trying to
figure out, like what.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
The crap And.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I forgot our shoes were out, grab our shoes, So
our shoes smelled like skunk. Oh my god, it wasn't
that so strong, but it was enough. I think we
kept people guessing, like, where's that smell?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Did they just think you were smoking weed?
Speaker 3 (22:44):
No? No, right, no, no, but I mean, oh my god,
it was so embarrassed, like what the first day of
high school, I frea can smell like skunk?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Oh it was not cool. I don't think anybody pinned
it on me or pinned it on anybody. And we
didn't tell anybody that day, but it was definitely a
story like oh my god, like my close friends definitely knew.
But yeah, I was traumatizing as a high school I
can imagine.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
So I used to have I thought it was pretty
cool when I was allowed to have friends stay over
on school nights.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
And m hm oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
And I've talked to you and the you know, our
listeners about mountain lights, my mom's bar.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Oh yeah right, yes.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
So one day my friend stayed over and we were late.
We missed the bus, so we took what was called
van tran oh.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Sure, yeah, oh no, the public transportation.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
It was called dial a ride, dial ride.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Oh yeah, dial a ride, for sure.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
So it was a bus and it was like a
you know, a call in shuttles service, and you know,
basically you just rode with other people and you had
to wait for everybody to make their stops. And so
we're on dial a ride and we looked obviously super
cute because we're very popular girls and very pretty girls
in high school. And I noticed that the lady like
(24:20):
passed our school two times, which we weren't overly concerned
with because we had a note, you know, yet she
dropped everybody off. Then she said, are you Carmen. I
said yes, she goes is your mom Phyllis? And I
said yes, she goes from Mountain Lights And I'm like yes,
(24:44):
She's like oh, and then she just started driving crazy
and we were freaking out, and she told me that, yeah,
so her husband had been telling her that he was
having an affair with me and he was gonna leave
her for me. What. Yeah, the waitress at at Mountain
(25:07):
Lights because I worked there selling tacos on Tuesdays and
I went to the kitchen. I mean, but I was
a teenager.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Yeah, and yeah, so oh my god.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yeah, so we were essentially kidnapped until we could talk.
This crazy bitch down. Oh god, my friend was it
really is? My friend was crying and I was like, yeah,
I know your husband, but yeah, no, I'm not having
(25:41):
like gross, he's no yuck.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Oh my gosh. That is awful. That is definitely like
the small town thing too, where like you could just go, oh,
are you so and so from here and there or whatever,
and you don't know, maybe this woman was just crazy
pants and like do you think she's making it up?
Or do you know the person that she was talking about?
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I know the person she was talking about. Okay, I
don't know. I mean, she might have just been a
crazy jealous lady. But you know, here's the things that
you know stand out. I was a teenage girl. I
was sixteen.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
She was in her forties. Yeah, so her husband was too,
and like if he was telling her that gross, yeah,
if she was believing that gross and crazy, like what
part of that is even okay with you?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
And then to abduct a sixteen year old to sixteen
year old and yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
We basically missed school. She got us back to school
like crying and freaking out just in time for us
to go and get on the bus to go home.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
And you know what, we didn't call the police.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
That's what I always wondering. I was just gonna ask you, like,
did you tell the school? Did you tell your mom?
Call the police? What happened?
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I don't think I did tell my mom. I did
tell my mom. But you know, like here's where it's
like so embarrassing. I didn't want anybody to think that
I was, you know, yeah, hooking up with an old guy. Ugh,
a mary old guy.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
I mean, that's been like the whole reputation. That's like
when you're you're the sixteen year old and you comes
out and is like it doesn't make sense that you
didn't do anything, but you didn't do anything about it, no,
because you were worried about reputation and yeah, you know yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
It's like just crazy, crazy, crazy. And I think about
my daughter in situations like that, like I would, yeah,
I would own that bus service. I would own that lady.
I would. I would ye off a cliff. I can imagine.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I might be going to jail, Like I know my
husband for sure would go to jail.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I know for sure I would. Like, first of all, lady,
why do you think it's okay for your husband to
I mean, like what part of this why aren't you
why aren't you kidnapping him and like driving him around crazy?
And the roads where we lived, I told you they're
like very narrow up and down. There's a cliff on
(28:26):
one side and mountains on the other. Not an exaggeration.
It was terrifying. Yeah, it was terrifying. And so I
think like after that, school days just weren't that scary anymore,
like really your best shot, Like I don't I don't care.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah, I mean it's sure though you go through something
that it's fairly scary, like it's not it's not quite
as scary when you get to something that's very I
mean definitely not the same in the same level of
craziness that you just went to went through or whatever.
I mean. On that note, school, like the first day
(29:12):
of school safety on the first day of school, I'm like,
right now, you know my daughter went for her first day.
And the craziness in which people act and are on
the road or in the school parking lot or parking
on in ways that you should know you normally would
(29:33):
get a ticket for, Like I don't understand why you're
doing that. You know, and the rage, the rage for
school is like a whole other level. Like if I'm
going to teach free to drive someday, I'm gonna need it,
Like just have her maneuver in a school parking lot
during pickup or or a drop off, because she'll learn
(29:55):
everything she needs to know in that that situation. Because
it's ridicul I mean, but I mean, like, seriously, people,
it's kit you're like dealing with kids in this moment
and you're acting like that and you're you know, I
don't know. It just boggles my mind at the sure
(30:17):
stupidity of parents during school drop off, especially on the
first day, Like especially.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Like it's all you know, you've done this before, this
is not your first time. And if it is, just
follow the other cars, how about that? Yeah, there's also
people out there guiding you.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Oh yeah, Like some days you get the cop, Like
the cop has to park in a place that you're
not supposed to said that you don't. Yeah, that's the
purpose of the car right there. You know, pay twenty
feet around the crosswalk. I mean, that's pretty normal standard.
Not during school days, nope, mm hmmm, Yeah, they park
(30:56):
wherever they want. Yeah, actually, in a fire lane especially.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
That's always good. That's always good. Is it true that
a fire truck can just ram your cars if you're
parked in a fire lane?
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Absolutely, I think they can. I think I will it,
and I think they can ram it.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Yeah, that's a good idea. I think that we should
hire a fire truck to just go ram the cars. Yeah,
it's a fire drill. You know. I was in a
parking lot yesterday in this little small town that we
live in, and you know, it's five miles an hour,
and I was parking lot and I was waiting people
(31:38):
to cross the crosswalk, you know, people going into the store,
coming out of the store with their purchases. And speaking
of that, I need to get back up to Bashes
and get my nine Snickers bars that I accidentally left
there at a dollar fifteen.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
N important, Yes, very important.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I paid for them. I should get them, that's right. Okay,
So but that aside, Yeah, this lady behind me is
giving me the double finger, like for real, and I'm like, okay,
it's five miles an hour, so now I'm going to
do four. And I was like, where are you going?
It's Sunday? Yeah, yes, any how are you going, it's Sunday,
(32:24):
and like, I know that mask is out. I know
that most churches out, Like come on.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Well, you know yesterday okay, and this is another back
to school day tradition, last minute shopping, right, And I
made the big mistake yesterday in the evening to go
to get some sneakers for my daughter because I was like,
you know, that's really the only thing we haven't done yet.
We need them for you know pe. So I went
(32:51):
to ross and on the day before school, and that
was a very big mistake of mine. I mean, the
line is just crazy, and I totally forgot about why
it was crazy. I mean, the reason I was there
is because she was needing it for school. But it
didn't dawn on me that every yel everybody else doing
last minute shopping. But you know there's Alosa's last minute
shoppers for school running into Walmart. I mean, it goes crazy.
(33:14):
So maybe that's what the lady was doing. Maybe she
was getting stuff for lunches and she's just irritated.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
I think, yeah, but she still plenty of time to
make lunches. This is not the best way to start
a school year with gibbon. And you know, Jessica, you
know how I react to people Oh yeah, yeah, making
hand gestures at me and traffic. Yes, they do.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Oh so did she get a triple finger back? Did
you get one out of the back of your car
and you had like three.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Fingers or no? I gave her one in the okay, okay.
But then I laughed at her, which is the worst
thing to do to people who are already yeah great
edge of freaking disaster. You just laugh in the mirror
at them. She was like doing, like where are you,
what are you doing? Where are you going? What are
(34:09):
you doing? Fingers? And then she gave me the whole
like got fingers, And I'm like, lady, what do you
think I'm doing up here making fucking cupcakes in my car?
Like so easily I'm letting pedestrians cross in the parking
lot because you're supposed to, you do.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
You know what's probably the most awkward thing is that
sort of in the confrontation in a school parking lot
where you're both like dropping off kids.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Yeah, I mean, I really do.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
I mean I don't usually react back to things like that,
but I have had people react that way to me.
And then we all were like park next to each other,
and it's the most awkward thing where you're like, oh, yeah, see,
we're just like in the same situation and here we
are parking together fucking our kids and oh and it's
revery much worse. Kid happens to be friends with your kid,
(35:03):
then it's awkward, way more awkward. We have to make
a small talk with them.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
But you know what I would say, well, I hope
your kid gets had lies.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Thanks everyone for joining us today on small Town USA.
If you want to hear more small Town hit subscribe
now go ahead, all wait. Make sure you check out
the links in the description of this podcast for our
Twitter and Instagram accounts. Don't miss your exit, Like to
share and follow us now.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Now leaving small Town USA. Small Town USA is a
production of nineteen Media Group.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
If you would like to feature your small town in
an episode or have suggestion for future shows, follow us
on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at small Town USA show.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Thank you for joining us, and come again real soon.
Navigating to small town USA workers.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
For one, are we Chalian?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Hello Jessica, Hi Carbon.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
What better time to reconnect the first day of school,
right at.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Least in Arizona. Right, first day of school in Arizona.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, early, Yeah, I bet you. It's hard for the
little kids, well I mean even big kids to go
back to school and it's still summer.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I know, it's so hot it feels like summer. But
when did you used to go back to school, Carmen,
Like what.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
I always felt like it was September.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Yeah, yeah, I was definitely September, And I think that's
true for some most states still is after Labor Day
and some days they have like that rule like you
can't start school till after Labor Day.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
But right, because we used to do school clothes shopping,
uh huh, and it was like winter stuff, you know.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
But I also lived where it was cold.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah, me too, So there was like.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Nobody wearing shorts to school when I went to school.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
You know what's funny is that I know that we
still wore shorts even in the winter. Really, oh yeah,
because we were like we wanted to be in a
warm client climate in our uh our area code right
and up in Michigan, we always wanted to be like
even the winter. I still have memories of like going
(01:56):
to the car in flip flops and my mom yelling
at me, like, don't be wearing flip flops to school.
It's you're in the snow. It's below, it's like twenty below.
But I didn't want to wear boots in high school.
You know, that wasn't the thing to do. I wanted
to have like my Adidas now they call them what
uh something, slides? They call them slides. Now, I want
(02:17):
my slides. No, like those Adidas slides, like you slide
your foot in. It was still like popular then, and
I guess it's pretty popular again.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
But you know, anywhere else they're very popular. Huh County
Jail slides.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Yeah, they issue they issue, not probably Adidas Adidas. Yeah,
they do issue a plastic slide that can be I
guess run through a dishwasher when people are done using them.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Oh I suppose. Yeah, something that's like silicone wouldn't melt.
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
They have like a fake woven plastic weave on. Oh yeah,
ask me how I know?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
How do you know?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I'm just kidding guys. Well, first of all, I worked
with a gentleman who had been in the Pema County jail,
gotch in my social work sort of stuff, and he
was he had the worst feet, like the absolute grossest feet.
(03:29):
If you picture the worst feet you've ever seen, and
then multiply it by five, those are his feet. Like
his toenails were not just long, but they were like,
oh curly, and they were like, yeah, like little tubes
of death. This yo yellow flaky tubes of death. Just
(03:55):
I picture just bacteria. I would I imagine a Komodo
dragon would be like, I am not fucking with those feet. No,
that's how creepy his feet were, right.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
And he went to Pema County Jail and he they
let him keep the shoes, and he would tell people
all the time. We'd be at the grocery store and
he'd be like, I went to Pema County Jail and
they gave me these shoes. Would you believe I got
these shoes for free at the Pima County Jail. Wasn't
that mass of them to let me keep the shoes?
(04:33):
And it's like, oh my gosh, I'm sure that there's
not a dishwasher alive that could heat up to kill
the bacteria on those shoes. They were just like take them,
take them, yeah, just go, please, don't come back.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
When you do bring them.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, how do your toenails get that long?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I don't know, and yellow?
Speaker 3 (05:00):
You know, it's not just people who go to Pema
County Jail that have those types of feet. But yeah,
that's a clear sign of maybe like somebody's mental illness
maybe I don't know, or just an aversion to not
being cleanly and things like that.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
But still, or maybe maybe it's a weapon. I mean,
because honestly, maybe it's a weapon. Yeah, you're somebody with
those toenails. I'm sure they.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Think they're like some kind of superhero, not a superhero,
you know, like an anti hero kind of situation, right.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah, toenail man. I mean honestly, like if you scratch
somebody with those toenails or like stuck them into somebody's leg,
I'm sure they would like crawl in the alley and
die within forty eight hours.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
Oh yeah, yeah, I'm just saying.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, So back to school anyway.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
School shopping for new shoes.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I remember when your I got these really cool boots.
Oh my god, they were brown leather boots. Well they
weren't real leather, they were leather, and they had a
zipper on the side and they had the slightest little heel.
Oh my god, I thought I thought for sure I
(06:25):
was definitely going to be recruited to, you know, with
Share or something. Yeah, my god. Yeah, they were so
so cool and.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Back to school shopping was so important, right, like to
make sure.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
You were important.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, like, you know, you kind of wanted what the
other kids had, but you also kind of wanted to
stand out. And the pressure, the freaking pressure of that
first day. Yeah, everybody calling, everybody, even in like grade school, Yeah,
what are you wearing tomorrow? What are you wearing tomorrow?
My gosh, it's a secret. But I remember those boots.
(07:05):
That was was that kindergarten, But I remember those boots.
And I had some denim gauchos and nights yeah, and
a gold turtleneck and a denim vest that I wore
with those boots. And believe me, I was hot. Shit.
(07:32):
I remember strutting down to the bus stop. Oh my god,
my lunch box. I was pretty sure people thought I
was at least seven.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I don't remember carrying as much until I think about
clothes anyways, until probably like fourth or fifth grade. I
remember I remember wanting to make sure that I had
clothes like everybody else. But till then, I think I
let my mom dress me for the most part. Really,
I remember the clothes I used to wear, and I
(08:06):
remember looking at the pictures going, oh my god, like
wearing the I think we've talked about this before with
like the big sweatshirts, the big baggy sweatshirts in the
nineties or the eighties and nineties both, and the leggings
that actually wrapped around your foot, you know, had like
a little like strap to stay on and you know,
(08:26):
to go into your shoes. So basically, I don't know
what they were thinking, Like we're thinking leggings were going
to kind of pull up or we're going to lose
them or.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
What that's actually called a boot strap? Oh yeah, they're
intended to be so they don't slip off in your boots,
you know, so they don't strutch up.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah I suppose. Yeah, So like, yeah, that's true. I
guess not everybody has this problem in Arizona. But when
you wear boots and you have leggings on, it can
go up rather than coming down the other direction, right,
But yeah, I remember wearing those a lot.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Do you remember when your tights would get just a
little bit too small, but you had to wear them anyway.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Like you come down and it would be like, yeah, it'd.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
You like crotch a lot, just like that awkward air
gap between your crotch and your tights.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Yes, yeah, that the butto like where it was supposed
to be on your crotch compared to where it was
like down at your knees.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
You had to watter kind of like a penguin a
little bit. Yeah, you look like a child with a
full diaper. That's pretty much.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
We kind of were children with full diapers. They were
full of air. But yeah, yeah, yeah, ah, I remember
I got these one tights Jessica that were so lovely.
This was in fifth grade and I remember this outfit too,
so it was also gold I had al Yeah, like
(09:54):
for some reason I had a lot of golden rod
and sunflower colored clothing. Perhaps my mom thought it brought
out my eyes. Now, my mom bought my clothes, but
I got to choose during the day, you know. Oh, okay, yes,
fifth grade, and I had this very cute uh what
do they call them? Broomstick skirts? Uh huh yeah, okay,
(10:18):
so very popular and it was like brown with little
flowers on it. And I had my a different gold turtleneck,
and I had very cool gold tights that were like
sweater material. Yeah, they were so cozy, they were, but
(10:40):
they were so cozy that they would slip down.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And sure, yeah, because they were much softer, I can.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
There were waste, yeah, and they fit. These were long enough,
you know, they had enough length and so I didn't
have a crotch a lot. And I remember playing Miss
pac Man yeah at the seven eleven before school and
very elegantly just reaching behind and uh pulling, pulling my
(11:12):
dight up, yeah, and then pulling my skirt down and
talking my turtleneck back in. And there was a guy
at the register who saw me and he like made
the motion like he was pulling his tights up to
I was mortified. It's just like, you know what, I'm
(11:32):
in fifth grade, dude, why are you watching me play
Miss pac Man? Pervert?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Anyway, Yeah, I think it's like middle school though, Like
middle school for me was like okay, I really started
carrying a lot more about what I was doing in
the first day, Like I I know that in elementary school,
I was calling my friends, like who's class are you in?
You know whose class are you in? How you found out?
Like who's going to be in your class? And you're
(12:01):
trying to like decide, Oh my gosh, okay, who are
my friends going to be this year? Oh who am
I gonna sit? How am I gonna sit with?
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Anybody?
Speaker 3 (12:08):
And I can tell you my first day. I know
that I was. I don't remember being nervous, but I
know that I was nervous because I remember my first
day of first I think it was first grade. It
was the first full day because we used to have
half day kindergarten, so it was the first full day,
and I sat next to my friend from kindergarten. I
remember that her name was Danny, and I sat next
to her. And we were at Northlake Elementary School, which
(12:30):
is no longer doesn't exist anymore, but we were downstairs
in the basement was the first grade room, and I
remember smelling the I was nervous, and I remember smelling
like the cafeteria was right next door, and it was
like at breakfast. He smells, or they're cooking lunch or something,
you know, like the peas and carrots was already being
(12:52):
cooked that early in the morning. Block you know, the
awful cafeteria smell that I had. I did not have
good lunches, and we would go. I was in there
and I threw up all over my desk. Birthday of
first grade. I was just so nervous. I remember that,
you know, I don't remember the lead up to that.
(13:14):
I just know that I must have been like nervous,
and that smell just got to me and yeah, threw
Did I get sent home?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
No, no, no, send us home? Then went to the
nurse's office and laid down for thirty minutes, and then
you went back to class.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I don't even know if I did. I think the
teacher cleaned it up.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
I want to say, God bless teachers. God bless good teachers.
I will say good teachers. Some teachers suck and they
should retire. Yeah, right, you should never be teachers. But
I mean, teachers do a lot of stuff, and I think, yeah,
I think it's amazing how much they contribute to, like
just our children. And the teachers that I had that
(13:54):
I remember and I love you.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Remember the ones, right, I remember the ones that really
had more of an packed on me. I remember. Hey,
So I don't know were you. Did your teachers ever
do this? Okay? So I had really good teachers and
it wasn't a creepy thing or anything. Okay, but my
fourth and fifth grade teachers would do stuff after school
with us, And I don't did your teachers ever do
(14:18):
that with you? Like they like, let's get time. Okay.
So here's I know this is going to sound weird
to you, but it really wasn't this weird thing. Like
every once in a while, a group of us would
get together with my teacher and we'd go skiing, like
cross country skiing after school, he would, you know, and
then for pizza.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah that's good. Who what how old were you?
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Fourth grade? Fourth grade?
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Yeah? I don't think i'd be letting my kid go.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Well see now I asked my mom about that, and
it was weird because everybody got to and there was
nothing weird about it.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Now, my fifth grade, don't you remember? No?
Speaker 3 (14:57):
I remember?
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Okay, maybe there's some girls that don't.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Well here's the other thing. So in fifth grade, my
teacher who my family knew very well because the small towns. Remember,
we would we went to camp with him in groups. Again,
(15:23):
he was a family friend of ours, and we would
go in groups and with like four or five at
a time each like spread out through the whole year,
and it was a part of the school, like the
school approved it.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
But see, but we went snowshoeing. I mean, okay, went snowshoeing.
We cooked like all this stuff on a campfire, and
it was like a little retreat for each each weekend
for my grid And now I think in my head,
like nowadays that would never happen, first of all, but
(15:55):
also it was a fun experience for me to be
with my friends, yeah and have my have it be
a totally different adult. They're a teacher, right, So it
was just interesting that that kind of thing was familiar
and everybody looked forward to that event.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
As a fifth grader, oh yeah, I mean we had
events like that where we would go camping. We would
uh learn we learned how to rock climb and repel
when we were like in fifth grade, and we learned
avalanche safety. We learned what to do if your canoe
tips over, and like we practiced. That was pretty exciting
(16:35):
because we got to go to the high school swimming pool. Sure, sure,
it was really amazing.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Yeah, this was only my fifth grade class, like there
were other fifth grade classes. This was this teacher who no,
he was a grade teacher too. That's the other part
of it. Was a part of our learning whatever we
were learning about. As previous to that. My fourth grade
teacher was amazing too, Like he he liked baseball and
(17:04):
so and like World War two. So I was our
class was like a World War two like trivia phenomen
you know, where we were like answering questions, singing the
wartime songs for things we knew there's one hundred and
eight stitches in a baseball and who like all these
things about baseball and World War two because that was
he related it back to things we were learning, right,
(17:27):
and so it stuck with me and the fun and
he was just a fun teacher right right. And we
did these things where he invited people kids out to ski,
go for pizza afterwards, whatever. And I think about it,
I'm like, you know, I think my mom was probably
like hesitant about it, but she's still let me do it.
And the other thing is, I don't think I would
(17:48):
let my daughter do it now unless the principal emailed
me and said, this is a school a proof thing
and we need volunteers, and we got a you know,
and here's what the girls are doing, here's what the
boys are doing. I mean, things are just so different now.
There was no questioning at that time.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, I mean people kids were getting righte left and
right in the sixties and seventies and eighties. I mean,
you know, I'm not saying that your teachers, but yeah,
there's no the awareness or the protection for children. I
think now they've probably become overprotective, you know, quite honestly,
so like kids don't even know how to fend for themselves,
(18:25):
you know, it's like, yeah, God, God help a child
if you know they're ever faced with some horrible situation,
because they just I mean, we're pretty street savvy. Were
say that we didn't get hurt or put in dangerous situations.
But I think we were able to handle them much
differently than kids today. We did have you know, in
(18:48):
my fourth I guess fifth grade, Yeah, it was, it
was right around there. And those were just a select
group of teachers. There was like two husband and wife
teacher teams, and they taught different grades, but they taught
us all of those things. Yeah, because they loved hiking,
they loved going out into the wilderness, and they did
relay all of that back to like Earth science and.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Yeah, I mean it was like a real experience. And
even I was in high school, there was still a
lot of that, but not quite to that extreme. I
would say things had started to change by that time.
But I have to tell you we talked about first days.
I want to tell you this story. I don't know
if I've ever told you this, but maybe I've told
you this, but I don't know if I ever told
you this on air. I have a really really particular
(19:35):
memory that has stuck with me about a first day
of school, and it's the same thing, like I was
calling everybody, you know, it was my very first day
of high school as a freshman. I was so nervous
about it because, well, freaking high school. First of all,
it's a totally different atmosphere. And when you're a teenaged girl,
you're worried about like a million things that you shouldn't
(19:56):
really be worried about, but like basically your perception, how
you're dressing, you know, everything and boys, of course. So
one of the things that we did was to kind
of ease my nerves was I invited a friend to
sleep over for the first day so we could sleep over,
and then we were going to go to school together,
(20:18):
so I wouldn't have to worry about waiting for somebody
at the door. Where's my friends? Where am I gonna
sit for the assembly the first day? You know, I
was just so nervous. So I had a friend sleepover
and she came over for dinner, and we got everything
set up for the morning, and.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
My dog.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Ran outside and he didn't get loose, but he was
on like we had this long like we had a
big backyard, so a long chain that extended through a
backyard so he could run around still, but he was
still like not going to get out. And all of
a sudden, you hear I think it was my mom.
(20:57):
She smelt skunk, and she was like, because she's a
he was our dog, and he freaking got sprayed by
a skunk in the face, and he came in. He
had to get come in. And then I don't know
if you've ever smelled skunk that close before, but it's
not like driving by in the road and going ooh,
(21:18):
that's a skunk, Like, oh, that's six. It's like a
whole different experience when it's right in front of you,
and that that whole house smelled like skunk, and everything
in it was starting to get attached to this smell.
And I remember thinking, oh my god, I am going
(21:39):
to go to school and smell like a freaking skunk.
So and my friend too. So we were in my
room and I barricaded. I did he were? I told
my mom, I'm not getting out until school tomorrow. We
took everything inside of my room, barricaded any crevices that
would allow things the scent flow, so like towels everywhere,
(22:01):
putting in the door. Oh but you know, anything that
could allow that smell to come into our room. So
we were safe. We were like in the safe zone.
And uh So what happened was I thought we were
pretty safe, but then we went to school and I'm like,
I smell something, you know. That morning we were like
in the car and I'm like, oh my god, do
(22:23):
we smell? I smell in my hair. I'm trying to
figure out, like what.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
The crap And.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
I forgot our shoes were out, grab our shoes, So
our shoes smelled like skunk. Oh my god, it wasn't
that so strong, but it was enough. I think we
kept people guessing, like, where's that smell?
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Did they just think you were smoking weed?
Speaker 3 (22:44):
No? No, right, no, no, but I mean, oh my god,
it was so embarrassed, like what the first day of
high school, I frea can smell like skunk?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You know.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Oh it was not cool. I don't think anybody pinned
it on me or pinned it on anybody. And we
didn't tell anybody that day, but it was definitely a
story like oh my god, like my close friends definitely knew.
But yeah, I was traumatizing as a high school I
can imagine.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
So I used to have I thought it was pretty
cool when I was allowed to have friends stay over
on school nights.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
And m hm oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
And I've talked to you and the you know, our
listeners about mountain lights, my mom's bar.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Oh yeah right, yes.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
So one day my friend stayed over and we were late.
We missed the bus, so we took what was called
van tran oh.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Sure, yeah, oh no, the public transportation.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
It was called dial a ride, dial ride.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Oh yeah, dial a ride, for sure.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
So it was a bus and it was like a
you know, a call in shuttles service, and you know,
basically you just rode with other people and you had
to wait for everybody to make their stops. And so
we're on dial a ride and we looked obviously super
cute because we're very popular girls and very pretty girls
in high school. And I noticed that the lady like
(24:20):
passed our school two times, which we weren't overly concerned
with because we had a note, you know, yet she
dropped everybody off. Then she said, are you Carmen. I
said yes, she goes is your mom Phyllis? And I
said yes, she goes from Mountain Lights And I'm like yes,
(24:44):
She's like oh, and then she just started driving crazy
and we were freaking out, and she told me that, yeah,
so her husband had been telling her that he was
having an affair with me and he was gonna leave
her for me. What. Yeah, the waitress at at Mountain
(25:07):
Lights because I worked there selling tacos on Tuesdays and
I went to the kitchen. I mean, but I was
a teenager.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Yeah, and yeah, so oh my god.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yeah, so we were essentially kidnapped until we could talk.
This crazy bitch down. Oh god, my friend was it
really is? My friend was crying and I was like, yeah,
I know your husband, but yeah, no, I'm not having
(25:41):
like gross, he's no yuck.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Oh my gosh. That is awful. That is definitely like
the small town thing too, where like you could just go, oh,
are you so and so from here and there or whatever,
and you don't know, maybe this woman was just crazy
pants and like do you think she's making it up?
Or do you know the person that she was talking about?
Speaker 1 (26:05):
I know the person she was talking about. Okay, I
don't know. I mean, she might have just been a
crazy jealous lady. But you know, here's the things that
you know stand out. I was a teenage girl. I
was sixteen.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
She was in her forties. Yeah, so her husband was too,
and like if he was telling her that gross, yeah,
if she was believing that gross and crazy, like what
part of that is even okay with you?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
And then to abduct a sixteen year old to sixteen
year old and yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
We basically missed school. She got us back to school
like crying and freaking out just in time for us
to go and get on the bus to go home.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
And you know what, we didn't call the police.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
That's what I always wondering. I was just gonna ask you, like,
did you tell the school? Did you tell your mom?
Call the police? What happened?
Speaker 1 (27:08):
I don't think I did tell my mom. I did
tell my mom. But you know, like here's where it's
like so embarrassing. I didn't want anybody to think that
I was, you know, yeah, hooking up with an old guy. Ugh,
a mary old guy.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
I mean, that's been like the whole reputation. That's like
when you're you're the sixteen year old and you comes
out and is like it doesn't make sense that you
didn't do anything, but you didn't do anything about it, no,
because you were worried about reputation and yeah, you know yeah, but.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
It's like just crazy, crazy, crazy. And I think about
my daughter in situations like that, like I would, yeah,
I would own that bus service. I would own that lady.
I would. I would ye off a cliff. I can imagine.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
I might be going to jail, Like I know my
husband for sure would go to jail.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I know for sure I would. Like, first of all, lady,
why do you think it's okay for your husband to
I mean, like what part of this why aren't you
why aren't you kidnapping him and like driving him around crazy?
And the roads where we lived, I told you they're
like very narrow up and down. There's a cliff on
(28:26):
one side and mountains on the other. Not an exaggeration.
It was terrifying. Yeah, it was terrifying. And so I
think like after that, school days just weren't that scary anymore,
like really your best shot, Like I don't I don't care.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Yeah, I mean it's sure though you go through something
that it's fairly scary, like it's not it's not quite
as scary when you get to something that's very I
mean definitely not the same in the same level of
craziness that you just went to went through or whatever.
I mean. On that note, school, like the first day
(29:12):
of school safety on the first day of school, I'm like,
right now, you know my daughter went for her first day.
And the craziness in which people act and are on
the road or in the school parking lot or parking
on in ways that you should know you normally would
(29:33):
get a ticket for, Like I don't understand why you're
doing that. You know, and the rage, the rage for
school is like a whole other level. Like if I'm
going to teach free to drive someday, I'm gonna need it,
Like just have her maneuver in a school parking lot
during pickup or or a drop off, because she'll learn
(29:55):
everything she needs to know in that that situation. Because
it's ridicul I mean, but I mean, like, seriously, people,
it's kit you're like dealing with kids in this moment
and you're acting like that and you're you know, I
don't know. It just boggles my mind at the sure
(30:17):
stupidity of parents during school drop off, especially on the
first day, Like especially.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Like it's all you know, you've done this before, this
is not your first time. And if it is, just
follow the other cars, how about that? Yeah, there's also
people out there guiding you.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
Oh yeah, Like some days you get the cop, Like
the cop has to park in a place that you're
not supposed to said that you don't. Yeah, that's the
purpose of the car right there. You know, pay twenty
feet around the crosswalk. I mean, that's pretty normal standard.
Not during school days, nope, mm hmmm, Yeah, they park
(30:56):
wherever they want. Yeah, actually, in a fire lane especially.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
That's always good. That's always good. Is it true that
a fire truck can just ram your cars if you're
parked in a fire lane?
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Absolutely, I think they can. I think I will it,
and I think they can ram it.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Yeah, that's a good idea. I think that we should
hire a fire truck to just go ram the cars. Yeah,
it's a fire drill. You know. I was in a
parking lot yesterday in this little small town that we
live in, and you know, it's five miles an hour,
and I was parking lot and I was waiting people
(31:38):
to cross the crosswalk, you know, people going into the store,
coming out of the store with their purchases. And speaking
of that, I need to get back up to Bashes
and get my nine Snickers bars that I accidentally left
there at a dollar fifteen.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
N important, Yes, very important.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I paid for them. I should get them, that's right. Okay,
So but that aside, Yeah, this lady behind me is
giving me the double finger, like for real, and I'm like, okay,
it's five miles an hour, so now I'm going to
do four. And I was like, where are you going?
It's Sunday? Yeah, yes, any how are you going, it's Sunday,
(32:24):
and like, I know that mask is out. I know
that most churches out, Like come on.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Well, you know yesterday okay, and this is another back
to school day tradition, last minute shopping, right, And I
made the big mistake yesterday in the evening to go
to get some sneakers for my daughter because I was like,
you know, that's really the only thing we haven't done yet.
We need them for you know pe. So I went
(32:51):
to ross and on the day before school, and that
was a very big mistake of mine. I mean, the
line is just crazy, and I totally forgot about why
it was crazy. I mean, the reason I was there
is because she was needing it for school. But it
didn't dawn on me that every yel everybody else doing
last minute shopping. But you know there's Alosa's last minute
shoppers for school running into Walmart. I mean, it goes crazy.
(33:14):
So maybe that's what the lady was doing. Maybe she
was getting stuff for lunches and she's just irritated.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
I think, yeah, but she still plenty of time to
make lunches. This is not the best way to start
a school year with gibbon. And you know, Jessica, you
know how I react to people Oh yeah, yeah, making
hand gestures at me and traffic. Yes, they do.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Oh so did she get a triple finger back? Did
you get one out of the back of your car
and you had like three.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Fingers or no? I gave her one in the okay, okay.
But then I laughed at her, which is the worst
thing to do to people who are already yeah great
edge of freaking disaster. You just laugh in the mirror
at them. She was like doing, like where are you,
what are you doing? Where are you going? What are
(34:09):
you doing? Fingers? And then she gave me the whole
like got fingers, And I'm like, lady, what do you
think I'm doing up here making fucking cupcakes in my car?
Like so easily I'm letting pedestrians cross in the parking
lot because you're supposed to, you do.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
You know what's probably the most awkward thing is that
sort of in the confrontation in a school parking lot
where you're both like dropping off kids.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Yeah, I mean, I really do.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
I mean I don't usually react back to things like that,
but I have had people react that way to me.
And then we all were like park next to each other,
and it's the most awkward thing where you're like, oh, yeah, see,
we're just like in the same situation and here we
are parking together fucking our kids and oh and it's
revery much worse. Kid happens to be friends with your kid,
(35:03):
then it's awkward, way more awkward. We have to make
a small talk with them.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
But you know what I would say, well, I hope
your kid gets had lies.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Thanks everyone for joining us today on small Town USA.
If you want to hear more small Town hit subscribe
now go ahead, all wait. Make sure you check out
the links in the description of this podcast for our
Twitter and Instagram accounts. Don't miss your exit, Like to
share and follow us now.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Now leaving small Town USA. Small Town USA is a
production of nineteen Media Group.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
If you would like to feature your small town in
an episode or have suggestion for future shows, follow us
on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at small Town USA show.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Thank you for joining us, and come again real soon.
Popular Podcasts
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com