Listen to the interview here!
Vicki Kerns
Vicki Kerns: Hi there. Welcome. I’m Vicki Kerns, and I live in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, in Berks County. I’ve lived here all my life.
Toni: Vicki, what do you do?
Vicki: I actually work as a waitress and a part-time nail technician.
Toni: So you’re a pretty busy lady.
Vicki: I am, yes. I am.
Toni: Vicki, let’s go into the very first question of the Project, which is, what does inspiration mean to you?
Vicki: I suppose inspiration means taking words of influence or an object, absorbing all you can and acting upon it in the most positive and beneficial way, and then moving forward with that.
Toni: Can you give me an example of that type of influence that you reference?
Vicki: I would say working – and I do enjoy both of my jobs – working as a waitress and part-time nail technician. They lead me to many different people and experiences, which can direct my thoughts and actions in many different ways. Moving forward from an idea to an achievement – just carefully studying their actions, their words, their thoughts, their ideas, which in turn leads me to joking with them, laughing. Sometimes we cry together. Simply listening. I’ve had so many people inspire me and have been beneficial in my life that way.
Toni: How do you put that type of inspiration into practice here in Berks County?
Vicki: Living my life as happy as I can be. I have a choice in the morning. I wake up happy, and I continue that throughout my day, and it definitely affects me in my work – both of my part-time positions that I work, as a nail technician and as a waitress, just hopefully inspiring others to do the same. If it’s paying it forward through a drive thru or just inspiring people to be happy. It’s come back to me that they do feel the same just by having a laughable conversation together.
Toni: That’s a really neat way to say that, because when you are inspired by somebody else – and you meet a lot of people in the jobs that you have – to be able to have it not just be a transaction in the business, but actually learn from that and be inspired by them, that’s pretty cool that you recognize that.
Vicki: Yes, it’s exciting. Every day is different, and that’s what I enjoy about having two jobs. They’re both very different, and I just use it to my advantage.
Toni: Can you give an example of the last time that you might have heard a story from one of your customers that moved you, where you were able to say, “You know what? I didn’t know this. That really inspired me, and I’m going to put that into practice. I’m going to try that.” Is there a recent story you can remember?
Vicki: I would say there was a woman who came into the diner I work at, and she shared with me that she had just found out that she had breast cancer, and they were going to have to remove one of her breasts and she was going to lose her hair. She just looked up and me and she said, “You never know what is going to be dealt to you on a day-to-day basis, but I am going to continue to live. I’m going to continue to visit you here at the diner and eat this wonderful food with my husband.”
What inspired me was when they came back every week and she’d have her chemo treatments, her husband actually shaved his head when she lost her hair. I just thought that was so touching. Just the fact that they would look up to me and before they ate their meal, they would say a prayer, and they would always ask me when she was the one going through her situation, she would ask me, “Is there anybody that you would like us to add in our prayer today?” I just thought that was amazing that she would even think of that while she was going through her traumatic situation.
She definitely inspired me to be nice – to be nicer. I feel that I am a good person, I try to do good every day, but people like that just inspire me to continue and to spread that around. Wherever I am, wherever I work, whether it’s a grocery store and I helped a woman get a jar of pickles because she couldn’t reach and she thanked me – it just makes you feel good. I try to use that every day.
Toni: Thank you so much for that great example. When you’re thinking about inspiration, who in Berks County inspires you?
Vicki: I must say, along with my parents, my husband, and my children, it might sound corny, but they all inspire me, from young to old. My grandmother is 97 years old. Her name is Jayne Fisher. She is a wonderful inspiration to me. She just has this wonderful zest for life. She still runs a weed eater at 97. She drinks red wine every night before she goes to bed. She tells me it’s one glass – sometimes I think it’s two – but it’s working for her, and she’s just an amazing person. Like I said, a wonderful zest for life and the ability to be a good listener, which I am working on. She just inspires me to work hard at doing the same. She’s just a wonderful person who I enjoy sitting with and talking to. I could just sit with her for an hour or two and just listen to her stories. She just inspires me to be like her.
Toni: And it sounds as though what inspires you as far as what inspiration means to you and how you put that into practice, it sounds like your grandmother has done that for you and continues to do that for you as far as living her life and being inspired. That’s great.
Vicki: Yes, absolutely.
Toni: What would you like your legacy to be?
Vicki: I never really thought about this, but I would think from my heart, my legacy would have to be using the people that I listed and just thinking with my heart and using the learning tools that have been passed to me from my childhood and the people that I have lifted, people that I’ve met along the way. Like I said, I choose to arise in the morning, and I have a choice. I choose happiness with a smile. I try to have a good work ethic. That was taught to me from my parents. I try to help somebody whenever I get the chance.
Most of all, I suppose, the way I want to be remembered is looking at my dogs – this sounds really cheesy – I want to be remembered as being the person that my dogs think I am. They think I’m wonderful. I’m trying to live my life the way I want to be remembered, and the way I have interaction with children and animals I would love to live my life, and I’m trying to do that every day. I’m working hard at that, to be the person that my dogs think I am. To see the love that they see. I think more people should live like dogs. We could learn a lot from dogs.
Toni: I think you’re right.
Vicki: They’re very forgiving and loving, actually with no question.
Toni: That is fantastic. Vicki, thank you so much for sharing the Get Inspired! Project with us. It’s been a real pleasure. Thank you so much.
Vicki: Thank you.
