Hot and Ready

They say you never forget your first time.

And that is the truth - at least for me when I think about my first Krispy Kreme donut.

It was the weekend of April 17, 1998 and a friend and I were visiting a former co-worker who had moved to Charleston, South Carolina. It was a long drive from Johnstown, PA and, if I remember correctly, once we arrived, we went out for a late dinner. This left us quite tired once we got back to his place and everyone immediately crashed for the night. 

The following morning, my friend and I were treated to true southern hospitality - coffee and donuts in bed. 

I remember laying eyes on the round confection covered in chocolate icing. It looked delicious and elegant at the same time on its own round plate. The first bite was life changing. I immediately asked my friend where he got the donuts from.

"Krispy Kreme," he said. I told him I had never heard of a Krispy Kreme. He was aghast. "You've never had a Krispy Kreme?"

At the time, I was only familiar with Dunkin Donuts, Donut Connection and Eddie's Donuts (in Trenton, New Jersey on the way to the beach.) My friend explained the amazing Krispy Kreme concept - fresh off the presses donuts when the hot light is on. What an idea! 

The first store opened in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1937 and I guess because of their southern roots, Krispy Kreme was mostly a below the Mason-Dixon Line attraction. (Until the 2000s, which we will talk about later.)

 I'm not sure if it was on this particular trip to South Carolina when I had my first hot and ready donut but it certainly became a regular habit once my husband and I moved to Virginia Beach and a few Krispy Kreme stores were close to my workplace. There were even times, back when I did morning traffic reports on the radio, we had hot donuts during our shift. Oh, those were the days!

It was such a treat to introduce family and friends to the 'hot now' donuts when they would come down to Virginia to visit. My oldest was only two when we moved back to Pittsburgh so his early memories of Krispy Kreme are not very clear. We do have photos of the kids at a Krispy Kreme in Richmond years ago, when there were only two kids, not three, and ironically, we had stopped in to visit the friend who introduced me to the Krispy Kremes in the first place. The kids were given paper side-cap style hats as they watched the donuts get a bath in the sugary glaze on the conveyor belt. Plus, they both had icing on their little cheeks.

But it has become a tradition in recent years to stop and get donuts just before we begin the 8-hour drive back to Pittsburgh from our annual Sandbridge vacation. The sting of leaving the beach is lessened by the comfort of stuffing a soft, sugary pillow of dough in our sad little faces. The smell that lingers in the car is like an elixir numbing us to our return to everyday life. 

It was only fitting this past weekend, that my husband and I, along with our soon to be high school graduate, made the 1-hour drive to the nearest Krispy Kreme in Washington, PA. (In the early 2000s, the company went public and opened numerous stores including one in Monroeville, where Chick-fil-A now stands, but it seems the public model didn't work well for the formerly private southern based firm and many of the stores, which opened during that time, ended up closing.)

Krispy Kreme had been offering, for one week only, a special 2020 graduation dozen in response to the pandemic and the tough break these hard-working kiddos were dealt. It was worth the 2-hour round trip journey just to smell that smell, which our son even said "smelled like Virginia" and bask in the glow of an untouched box of decorative donuts. These special offerings were not "hot" but tasted so fresh just the same. It is a shame how quickly a Krispy Kreme can be eaten. It takes lots of self-control to not eat the whole box. 

So hats off to you, Krispy Kreme, for making another special memory for our family. In a few weeks, we'll be back in Virginia, and while I'm not wishing away my vacation, I do have my sights set on a hot and ready that never disappoints and always reminds me of my first time. 

I'm All Verklempt

Do you have that person in your life?

That person who, early on, made such a difference they changed the course of your journey?

Well, my person happened to be a teacher and during Teacher Appreciation Week, I thought it might be a good time to share my experience with this man.

Now keep in mind it has been 30 years since I was a student in Raymond Geissler's U.S. History Class during my junior year at McKeesport Area High School. I ended up having him for two classes during my high school career including economics. He was a big personality. I remember hearing his voice all the way down the hall between periods. Students would be hustling from classroom to classroom and you could hear him from one end of the hallway to the next.

As much as he was likable - he was also tough. Before a test he would give his famous speech. "If anyone is caught cheating..." I don't remember the exact wording of the speech but it contained a warning that the word cheater would be written in our permanent file "in red ink, in my handwriting."

This speech was so convincing, I couldn't even think about cheating. I felt like even if I thought about it, he would know and then my permanent file - red ink - branded for life.

Mr. Geissler taught me more than just about getting by without cheating. He also taught me about work ethic. When I took his economics class we would have daily homework but it wasn't always collected. Sometimes days would go by without him asking for proof we did the assignment.

I guess that routine gave me a bit of false comfort on the one evening I did not do my homework. The next day when he came around to collect our papers (and I remember it like it was yesterday) desperately wishing in the moment I could go back to the night before and actually complete the assignment. But, it was too late.

After class, he pulled me aside and asked me why I hadn't done the work.

I didn't have a legitimate excuse.

He told me if someone contacted him to give me a reference, prior to that day, he could say, "You could be count on her 100% of the time." But now, if someone contacted him and asked about me he would say, "You can only count on her some of the time."

I was devastated. How could I have screwed up so badly? My friends tried to help me feel better by saying he took it too far and was being overdramatic but those words ended up guiding me well throughout my life. Don't get me wrong. It is hard to live by Mr. Geissler's standards but it is nice to be thought of as dependable. I have shared that story with my children. They think it is horrible and unnecessary. I now think of it as tough love.

But my favorite memory of Mr. Geissler, is the day I decided to do an unplanned monologue in front of his class. I don't know what was going on with me that day but I was moved to raise my hand and ask if I could share an experience I had the night before. I had been studying, on my bedroom floor, and using his U.S history notebook as a coaster for a hot beverage. (Yes, this is exactly what a teacher wants to hear.) I ended up spilling the beverage but the thick cover of the notebook absorbed the liquid and no harm was done to the thin, white pages, filled with notes from class.

I guess I was inspired by Mike Myers' recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live "Coffee Talk with Linda Richman" where he would impersonate a stereotypical Jewish, middle-aged woman with an exaggerated New York accent. She would throw in some Yiddish words and when she got upset she would say, "I'm all verklempt."

Yes, I borrowed that line from Linda when I retold my story. It felt good to be in front of the class - having my classmates attention and making them laugh.

After class, Mr. Geissler pulled me aside. He had a twinkle in his eye. He told me how much he loved my story and how much he loved seeing that side of me. Prior to that day, I had never shared that side. In fact, I hardly raised my hand to participate during his class. You wouldn't even know I was there. He asked me to share that fun side of me more often.

That day, he gave me confidence and I never looked back.

My career path has included both radio and television work and I firmly believe those opportunities would not have been possible without Raymond Geissler. I will always been indebted to him for inspiring a once awkward teenager, coming off of years of bullying due to a speech impediment.

I'm sure he didn't know that day what he did for me but I have spent each day since then thankful God placed him in my life at just the right time.

So during Teacher Appreciation Week try to remember a teacher that inspired you and if you can, let them know. 

A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops. -  Henry Adams, American historian.