Dysfunction Junkies
COMING NOVEMBER 20, 2024!!! Two high school besties reconnect and commiserate their stories as they navigate the dysfunctions of life from marriage, families, illness, death of childhood families, and creating healthy boundaries. Join them each week as Chrisy and Kerry share their stories and life lessons all with a zest of wit, humor, and love. They may not have seen it all, but they have seen enough!
Dysfunction Junkies
Welcome to your Safe Space Dysfunction Junkies....Meet Your Hosts!
Ever wondered how two high school friends can rekindle their bond after years apart? Chrisy and Kerry take you on their whimsical journey of rediscovery, proving that the ties of friendship can withstand life's numerous twists and turns. From Chrisy’s carefree adventures to Kerry’s disciplined paths, the duo dives into their divergent journeys and how they ultimately found their way back to each other.
Sharing laughter as a survival tool, Chrisy and Kerry aren't afraid to tackle life's tough challenges—like childhood trauma and PTSD—through humor. They revisit a hilarious school-day mishap in phys ed class, a defining moment in their friendship that underscores their belief in the power of laughter. With a dash of nostalgia and a sprinkle of humor, this memorable episode sets the stage of future promises to engage listeners through stories of resilience and the healing power of finding humor amid adversity.
Eager to grow their podcast community, they encourage reviews and participation in listener polls, ensuring that future episodes are filled with captivating stories and laughter. Join Chrisy and Kerry as they promise a fulfilling, fun-filled experience you won’t want to miss!
Thank you for listening. Be sure to check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for additional content. We often post polls and other questions for your feedback. We would love to hear from you, and if you like our show please take a moment to give us a Five Star Review!
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Dysfunction Junkies has all rights to the songs "Hit the Ground Running" created by Ryan Prewett and "Happy Hour" created by Evert Z.
Welcome to the Dysfunction Junkies podcast. We may not have seen it all, but we've seen enough. And now here are your hosts, Chrisy and Kerry.
Chrisy:Hello, dysfunction Junkies, welcome to your safe place. And we're here to tell you that, if you had that one best friend in school, there is still hope. Just because you fell out doesn't mean that you won't fall back in together, and we're proof of that. I'm Chrisy
Kerry:and I'm Kerry..... This is happening, it's happening, we're doing it. We're doing it. It's happening. It's happening, we're doing it. We're doing it. So let's tell everyone who a little bit about us, who we are, why we're doing this and what we hope to achieve.
Chrisy:Okay In the middle years. Yes.
Kerry:Yes, and then?
Chrisy:Well, I didn't show up until our sophomore year. Right, you came in the sophomore year, yeah.
Kerry:By senior year we started, you know, little differences, no animosity, just kind of going our own different ways.
Chrisy:She's being nice. Chrisy turned into an idiot and wanted to do something way different than what we were doing originally. I wanted to have fun and party, party, party. My friend Kerry here was a little too mature for that.
Kerry:So I won't say mature, but uh, just on a different path in life. At the time, yeah, thought I was uh in love and going to get married and do all that stuff and you know. So it was just on a different path in the moment, gotcha.
Chrisy:All right. Well, I don't know what path I was on the path to the sneaking into the local bar usually, but oh, well different time. People don't judge, we don't judge. Here, you don't judge either.
Kerry:Not at all. Again, this is your safe space it's a safe space.
Chrisy:Yes, so let's hear a little bit about your background, Kerry
Kerry:So we went to catholic high school in northeast Ohio, in the rust belt area, um, and I wanted to be an animal trainer. That was just my aspiring wanted to be, but had no support of my family and friends and basically everyone thought I was nuts. They're like you can't make a living out of that. But I proved them all wrong.
Chrisy:Yes, you did I did so.
Kerry:I went to college, got a degree in behavioral psychology, went on to work for a major marine park and worked with all kinds of different animals mostly domestic animals, but was around other ones. In fact, I wouldn't doubt that I'm in many people's family vacation photos because I was on stage performing with animals, and we do meet greets afterwards. But yeah, so I achieved my dream and then later moved on to Las Vegas and got to work with some lions at a major hotel. So again, look through those vacation photos. You might see more videos of me so. But then I decide I guess I got to grow up and get a real job. So I worked for animal control in a police department, but in 2013, my husband and I moved back here to Northeast Ohio and now I have an adult job. I'm executive director of a church and have a little family hobby farm and have my husband and grandchildren and we raise puppies for a major organization that provides service dogs for people with disabilities, and now podcasting with my high school.
Chrisy:BFF and her complete opposite in everything she just said. I too have been raised here in Northeast Ohio and was at the Catholic High School with Kerry, of course. And then after high school I did venture into college with absolutely no direction, just signed up and went, didn't know what I wanted to be. My mother wanted me to be involved in music. She thought I was going to be a superstar. Well, you had an amazing voice. She was like what they call those stage mothers, but she never went anywhere near the stage. She just thought maybe I should be there.
Chrisy:So it was like getting pushed off of a cliff and I just usually circled back and didn't end up going where she thought anyhow. But I got a degree in English literature, not because that's what I wanted to do I could name off all the other things I majored in prior to coming to that. I ended up in literature, not because I like to read, because I hate to read, but because for the college that we went to the university not a lot of film classes, Nope, but all whatever we had was in that department, yeah. So I squeezed myself into that and BS my way through a lot of books To get a BS. You BS'd your way through a.
Kerry:BS.
Chrisy:I got a BA in BS, is what I got because I pretty much was able to ace anything for the most part if there was a movie made from the book.
Kerry:Oh yes.
Chrisy:Because I probably saw the movie.
Kerry:Yes.
Chrisy:But that got me into trouble sometimes too, because, as everybody knows, those movies are not like the books, so usually by the professor's look on their face when I was trying to explain, something would tell me I needed to shut up because I was way off. Something would tell me I needed to shut up because I was way off. But so I met my husband down on campus. We kind of knew each other prior to that but and we got married. I went through a lot of really weird jobs with a lot of very interesting companies.
Kerry:Which would be great for future podcasts to talk about dysfunction in the workplace.
Chrisy:I worked for a very good collection of what represents the city where we're from.
Kerry:Yes.
Chrisy:And again, we'll get into that at another time. But I did eventually land a job where I've been for 20 years with a very good company. Um, it's a family company that's been around for over 100 years and they're good people and they continue to employ me they've been good to you thank them for that.
Chrisy:So, uh and then, uh, here we are with this podcast. I I mean just Kerry and I talking about all this crazy stuff we've experienced. We came in and out of each other's lives over the last few years trying to, but lives are busy.
Kerry:But we always found that when we talk to each other, it was always great therapy. Great therapy because we would find out that, you know, we're going through similar things. May not have been exactly the same, but the same problems or the same childhood traumas or issues that we went through we're learning from and how those dysfunctions or things that happened to us then are affecting us now as adults and how we're working through it and through our conversations and a lot of laughter. You know we it was. You get through things and yeah, like five months ago we were on the phone and kind of just randomly made a comment about a podcast or writing a book. And here we are. I can't believe that was five months ago. I was doing the math as I was driving here today and I'm like this has been five months in the making, but we have done a lot of work in five months to get here like this has been five months in the making, but we have done a lot of work in five months.
Chrisy:Yes, yes, we have uh and um, you do uh, grow uh as you get older. There's a lot of realizations. I think that carrie and I have come to, yes, that we did not have right 10 years ago, 20 years ago, especially not 30 years ago, when we were friends exactly, and I'm sure a lot of you out there have experienced this too. So, again, this is the place for you to sort of know that there are other people who have these weird, crazy experiences and that we're more than happy to discuss those at this point in our lives.
Kerry:But we want to make some disclaimers today so that when you're listening to our future episodes, that one we are not therapists.
Kerry:Not at all, nowhere near. This is our own therapy for us, and we have a feeling that many of you are probably going to relate to things that we've said or that we're talking about, and we hope, if anything, that it's just again it's your safe space, that you'll be able to, you know, commiserate with us, and that it'll just be. It's a fun place where again we're going to be laughing at some things. Also, no judgment here. So you know, again, it's our safe space. This is where you can talk about those things with your girlfriend or your friends, or you know that you can just tell it how you really feel.
Chrisy:So absolutely, and I think that if you can somehow relate to things we have, which I'm sure you will, yes, also, you might realize in listening with us that you didn't realize that you were experiencing some of these similar things, and we don't want that to become a problem, meaning now you're having nightmares because you didn't realize that you were experiencing this.
Kerry:PTSD.
Chrisy:Yes, but please understand that when you realize that you need to just face it, yep. And then there is always humor in this.
Kerry:There's always need to just face it, yep.
Chrisy:And then there is always humor in this people. We have to laugh because anything else is going to break you. So everything has a funny side.
Kerry:I think for the most part we do yeah, and I think along with that, too, is a matter of um.
Kerry:You know, we are going to talk about, at times, maybe some serious issues and, again, we're not trying to make light of them, but we're just talking about how things have affected us, how we've moved on, and you know hopefully you know, see some clarity out it, and throughout the different podcasts, we're going to be asking for your feedback.
Kerry:So, on our Facebook page or, you know, even on our website or emailing us, whatever, we want your input. We want to know if what we talked about hit home with you today, or we might do some polls. So, yeah, we really want this to be an engagement with all of you listeners out there, you know, on what we're talking about or maybe some future topics. If there's something that's been getting on your craw and you want to talk about it, you know, let us know, because chances are we've experienced it too and we just hadn't thought about like, oh yeah, that's a dysfunction or that's something we want to talk about Right, and the word dysfunction here we're using in a way that has an umbrella over a lot of different things, exactly.
Kerry:It's probably not the clinical definition that we're using, or the Webster's Dictionary.
Chrisy:Right, because we are not psychologists, and just to throw this out here, how we can do this humor thing. This is on me. I once watched a movie where the person in this movie made a statement that humor is tragedy plus time. Now, this is not my line.
Kerry:Do you remember the movie?
Chrisy:I do. I don't know. Am I allowed to promote movies?
Kerry:I don't know, am I? I don't know, I think you. Well, you can reference it, you're referencing it.
Chrisy:And now I'm going to get into a whole other thing, because talk about dysfunction. It was a Woody Allen movie people, and I believe it was a Woody Allen movie people and I believe it was Alan Alda, for all of you youngins out there probably have no idea who that is, but it was him and the movie was Crimes and Misdemeanors good movie I might have to. I don't think people are going to jump all over me because of the Woody Allen thing. I'm sorry, this is a film.
Kerry:No judgment.
Chrisy:Safe space, safe space. I'm sorry. I think it's a good movie and I love the line and I think it does pertain to a lot.
Kerry:So, that's really good. Yeah, you are definitely more of a movie movie buff, but you also have an excellent memory for details, like we were. When we started getting back together talking, you remembered the very first time we met.
Chrisy:Well, I remembered the first time because Apparently I was a bully.
Kerry:No, no, no, no.
Chrisy:This was not a bully situation.
Kerry:It was a survival situation for Kerry but, let's let Chrisy tell you how we met.
Chrisy:We were in phys ed together. This was, I think, the only class we sat together. Yeah, I think it was yeah, because I think Carrie was in the smart people classes.
Kerry:You are a smart person too.
Chrisy:Oh, I didn't say. But yeah, the parents again, my parents were parenting from afar and didn't think that maybe they should have seen. Maybe Chrisy can handle this, I don't know. So, phys think that maybe they should have seen, maybe Chrisy can handle this, I don't know. But um, so phys ed class, they made us run. I hate running. I'm sure most of you do. It's terrible. I don't know why people do it on purpose, unless you're being chased. But um, we had to run and we were inside in a gym, inside in the gym, and I was uh running with somebody another, uh person who was not real adept at running fast, or with the rest of the group, and uh, carrie had probably already passed me three or four times.
Chrisy:I have no recollection the gym teacher got very frustrated because me and the same girl were just like completely lag. I mean, we were just really, we were power walking, we were probably just trying to make it look like we were power walking.
Chrisy:If that or we were taking a walk in the park, type of thing. And so Carrie came up behind us Cause the gym teacher said look, you're going to have to run more laps If you two don't get moving, chop. And I was like what the hell's wrong with this guy? I'm like jesus. I mean, I gotta go to another class after this, I don't want to exhaust myself. Carrie came up and she said look, I'm not running more because of you, so get moving. And then she went on her merry way and I was like god damn, that bitch just told us we have to run.
Kerry:No wait wait, you got to hear the other half of the story. I too was not a runner and running was. I was one of those kids that I was never conditioned to run, and so I would get these really bad pains in my side, like from, you know, breathing too hard, and it would just literally be like someone was stabbing me. So I really think, in my defense, that I was just dying also and I'm like, oh my gosh, if I have to do another lap around this gym, I'm literally going to die. So I wasn't trying to be mean, I was. It was survival.
Chrisy:Well, you're hilarious because you actually ran to the point of feeling pain. I wasn't gonna run that hard to feel anything. I mean, you, you were dedicated to at least getting to that point. I was like I'm sure I would have had pain too. I would have probably had a full asthma attack, and you know the whole thing. So now, that is how we met. That's how we met. Yes, now where it gets foggy is how we became so chummy that I don't remember because we didn't have classes. So somehow I think we must have been in gym class and eventually I got over the fact that you told me I need to.
Kerry:Maybe you realize that I was. Yeah, maybe you realize I really wasn't an athletic person. I really was on team chrissy. As far as the non-athletic side, well, I don't know that.
Chrisy:I ever come back. You were fairly in shape. I was a former fat girl, so I mean I'd gotten into some shape prior to our sophomore year, but before that pretty much a slug everywhere. But so we did. We became fairly chummy.
Kerry:Yeah, we were great. So, yeah, then you know, like we said, college kind of came along, started going different ways in our life but yeah, over the last couple of years started been chatting more and getting together more, talking more, and now we're here. So I'm sure throughout the podcast you'll hear a lot more stories, but that's always a funny story I love hearing every time because I just think it's hysterical. And Chrissy remembers to the T how we met.
Chrisy:Yes yes.
Kerry:So now we're fast forward to here we are now. So we're both at different points in our life and we've realized that we kind of have no filter. You know how they hear about that with people when they get older they have no filter. I think you've always been better about not having a filter, very much. So I had a filter, but I was, you know. But lately, in the last five, seven years, yeah, my filter is definitely going Because I've learned how to create healthy boundaries and stand up for myself. My family actually has always called me the sheriff. I don't know if you knew that.
Chrisy:No, yeah, they did. Please elaborate a little bit on that, because I don't even know what that would mean.
Kerry:Well, I think it's because, you know, just through things in my life, you know, I did have a rough childhood and there was some trauma and things that happened there.
Kerry:So I've kind of always been a fighter and I've always been one for right and wrong and there's not a lot of gray for right and wrong and there's not a lot of gray and and I say things, I stand up and say things, and I think part of me is always trying to be protect people around me, because I didn't feel protected as a child, so I do get mama bear on things.
Kerry:But in any case, yeah, so my family will call me the sheriff, because if something isn't right, I am more than willing to call it out and to say something which goes against everything that my family stood for, because my family and we'll talk about this in one of our other episodes we didn't talk about elephants in the room, we didn't talk about problems, but I broke that mold and so I would talk about it, I'd bring things up and I'd call things out. So, yeah, so my nickname in my family is called the sheriff, so, so, but I think it's something that was a good life lesson for me to learn, because it's, you know, kind of made me who I am. It's made me be able to recognize these things that have happened in life and dysfunctions, and to be able to, I feel like, made me a better person. So I don't know if everyone else would agree.
Chrisy:No, I agree 100 percent. I don't even know. I could probably make a long list of all the names I had in my family and still do.
Kerry:Don't care, don't care good, bad or indifferent.
Chrisy:Good, bad or indifferent, that's pretty much it. But uh, one of the things probably was more of the invisible child, because early on my parents uh had two.
Chrisy:I'm one of three I have have two older sisters and they were much older than me, like almost 12 years and almost like 10 years older than me. So when my parents were having kids during that time period of like the 60s and stuff, when all of their friends and family members were having kids at the same time, they were real involved with everybody. And then they had me and by that time most of their friends were not having kids. They were at a different point in their lives. So when I would usually show up with my parents somewhere, they didn't even know that I existed.
Chrisy:Like oh, you had another kid or you know, and I used to hear a lot from family members. I remember, you know your sisters when they were little, but I don't remember when you were little, christine.
Kerry:It's like, well, probably because you just weren't around.
Chrisy:And I didn't know a lot of these people. My mom had a lot of relatives that were aunts and uncles and cousins, and I didn't know who all these people were.
Kerry:Did they ever say you were an accident? Were you an oops?
Chrisy:Yeah, I suppose I was.
Kerry:But they didn't use that term.
Chrisy:No, I don't think my mother thought. They kind of told my mom medically that she probably couldn't have any more kids. Okay, and in fact I was pretty close to getting gotten rid of because they said that she had something. Her uterus was the size of a five-month pregnancy.
Kerry:Oh.
Chrisy:And that she needed to have a hysterectomy because she had a lot of problems. Yeah, and at that point when I was born and stuff, they had just started testing before they would do such a surgery. So they said oh, by the way, your uterus is the size of a five month pregnancy. Because you have, because you are, you're pregnant. So, and everybody at that time, believe it or not, my mother said they used to tell her she's too old to have a baby. She was only 31 when she had me. Oh my gosh.
Kerry:So, but back then, yeah, late 60s, early 70s that was, I guess, considered old. And that's kind of something, too, that we have in common is your sisters are older than you, just like my four sisters, so I'm the youngest of five daughters and so, yeah, there's like eight to 14 years difference. So I think that's another reason why we're kindred spirits we're both the youngest of the family, both of all sisters, and having that age gap where we were kind of, we came from family but we grew up as only children.
Chrisy:Yes.
Kerry:Which.
Chrisy:I think is a huge benefit.
Kerry:Yes, I mean agree.
Chrisy:I think you have siblings and so you have to deal with them on the level of having siblings.
Kerry:Yes.
Chrisy:It's, I think, a little different when they're older like that, because you don't fight like other kids do with their siblings when they're close in age, but you also get that feeling because they're out of the. By the time I was nine, both my sisters were pretty much out of the house and either married or going to be getting married, so you felt like a only child. Other benefit is usually your parents are a little bit more financially settled in their thirties than were in their 20s.
Chrisy:This is true so there's the financial gain for us kids, the youngest ones, yep. We get the best of everything, the best clothes, yep. Usually you can squeeze a private education out of them and, you know, maybe a nice car on your 16th or 17th birthday.
Kerry:Well, I didn't get that. But yes, you didn't know how to ask.
Chrisy:You should ask me how to ask. I told you I had okay, okay.
Kerry:So let's talk about cars. So your 16th birthday, you got a car.
Chrisy:17th because I didn't learn how to drive right away, I didn't get my license right away, because the boy that's sort of our other connection between carrie and I. I was dating for a long time and he was a year older. He had, uh, the opportunity to borrow his family's car all the time and he would drive me everywhere so you didn't need.
Kerry:There was no, so there was no need.
Chrisy:But then, when we broke up, I was like I can't be sitting at home, no, so I got my license and then I scored a camaro. I remember that birthday, that's crazy.
Kerry:So, um, I grew up more out in the countryside of town, on the edge of town, where it was starting to become farmland, and I did have a horse, and so my ride when I turned 16 was some old Chevy truck. I don't remember the year, but I know it had a 454 engine or something, but anyways it was rusted out. Literally when I would drive to because it was about what 20 minute drive from where I live to the high school we had to get on the freeway and go downtown city. I literally had to have a bus piece of plywood underneath my gas pedal because it was all rotted out, like you can see the road under the gas pedal oh my god, I didn't even know you had this truck yeah, it was this damn truck.
Kerry:So most of the time I would ride the bus to school, but I did have a truck that we would. I would occasionally drive, so but anyways though. Anyways though, it was definitely like the Flintstones.
Chrisy:Yeah, we're getting images of that with the hole in the man Kerry. That's bad, I don't remember.
Kerry:I know, yeah, well, like I said, we I yes, I came from you know we were a middle class family, but and we'll talk about this in one of the other episodes but my dad was definitely had some gambling issues, so money was not a security in our house. So part of the reason why I was driving the Flintstone truck with the hole in the floor.
Chrisy:Wow, had to have the plywood If it rained.
Kerry:Oh gosh forbid, because the rain would splatter up, oh my God. And my Bobby socks would have white stains on them from the freeway, oh my God.
Chrisy:See the things you learn. But wow, yeah, yeah, I did not know that and I am so sorry.
Kerry:Um, hey, it's, it all works out. We all get to better places in our life. We learn from it.
Chrisy:This is not a horrible thing. I'm sure a lot of you have stories of your first vehicles. Maybe some of you now remember my camaro was not a brand new camaro. I got it in 89 and it was an 82. Yeah, and it was a standard. It was not. Still a nice car it was nice.
Chrisy:It was nice and I loved it and I did. I had it for a very long time. I didn't get rid of it until I was pregnant with my son. My husband was sick of it, taking his space up in the garage and we didn't drive it and it had a lot of things that needed done to it and, um, just not anything we were really committed to. And be honest, by that time in my life, uh, when I was uh pushing 40, yeah, when I sat in it I didn't feel 19 or no, you feel like you're sitting on the ground.
Chrisy:yes, yes, I had to roll my windows down.
Kerry:I've always been more of a truck person. I couldn't have a car like that.
Chrisy:Well, and my husband. One time I approached him and said you know, would it be a fun project for us? Because I said, my husband's very book, smart, very smart. And he, I thought, well, we'll get a book and we'll fix our car together, it'll be a nice couple's project. Well, I insulted the hell out of him with that one because he said uh, my family did not raise me as smart as I am and encouraged me to use my mind to fix a car. It didn't interest him at all.
Kerry:So mechanics was not the thing.
Chrisy:No, no, it just wasn't, and I'm sure he could have.
Kerry:Yeah, no doubt, totally did it, but Nope, that's why you pay a mechanic to take care of the car.
Chrisy:That's probably what he thought and he didn't feel like paying a mechanic. So he's like just get rid of the headache and then we'll be happy and we'll have more space time.
Kerry:So but uh, so that's kind of a little bit about us. So moving forward. Uh, we've got a lot of great episodes lined up. We were going to talk about a lot of different things, um just life in general, and um we kind of hope that you all enjoy it.
Chrisy:So yes, and give us feedback. Yes, let us know some weird things, because we will be happy to mention these stories and give you either we totally get it or we are amazed by it, and we want to give it a little bit of a shout out because we want everybody to feel comfortable here and to feel like you are seen and we hear you. Absolutely, because that is important. We all have these wonderful and crazy experiences and they make us who we are.
Kerry:Yes, so I think what we'll do is let's put some kind of poll on our Facebook page today. Maybe we should do a little poll of maybe what kind of car. We can ask people what kind of car they got for when they turned 16 or 17, what their first car was.
Chrisy:Yes, we would love that. Yeah, and did you have to beg for it. Yeah, or did you inherit it and it was a piece of crap?
Kerry:and you hated it. Did you have to worry about rain coming in through your floorboards?
Chrisy:Yes, were you doing the Flintstones to get going every morning?
Kerry:So I'm going to put that on our Facebook page. So where can they find us? So you guys can go to our Facebook page. You just look up dysfunction junkies. We also have an Instagram page. You can look up us there. And then we have our website, which is dysfunction junkies dot buzzsproutcom. But all of that will tell a little bit. You know, have some information about us and for your podcast, where you're listening to on iTunes or whatever other media, please give us a review today. We would love to see five star ratings so we can grow our customers grow our listeners, share more of our stories. But, yeah, anything you can do to help us out that way would be very much appreciated. So, yes, definitely look us up there, check out that poll and then we'll be coming back to you soon with another episode.
Chrisy:We will not disappoint people. We are here to make everything fun. You will enjoy this and you will feel better about it when you listen to us, so please.
Kerry:So thank you for joining us as we laugh off our childhood life dysfunctions and we continue down this rabbit hole of life and see you next week.
