Author: Daris Howard

When we walked into the buffet restaurant, the first thing that caught Jason’s eye was the chocolate fountain. It had three huge tiers with gallons of chocolate flowing over them.

“That’s just about the most amazing thing ever!” he said.

This buffet lunch was the last part of our scouting high

Too often it seems like all of the news we hear is bad; at least a high percentage of it is negative. That’s why I always look for positive, uplifting stories. There was an event that occurred over the last few weeks in our community that is worth retelling.

During this time of year, in the west,

“When will softball ever help you get a job and earn a living?” Dean’s mother asked in exasperation.

Underhand fast-pitch softball was big in the communities before World War II, and Dean was a crazy fast pitcher at it, with an emphasis on crazy. His pitches were incredibly fast, but they were

I joined some other men and women to take the youth of our community to a water slide for the evening. I went down the slide only once and felt my body would never be the same. Most of the other adults felt the same way about the slide, so while the youth continued to see who could go the fastest

I was with the youngest primary children at church last Sunday, when something happened that made me think about Civil Rights Day and the challenges this country has faced. One of the teachers was trying to help the children understand that God loves everyone, no matter who they are, and that we should

I was nineteen years old and living in New York when I first met Juan. His family had come to the United States from South America, and he was proud of his heritage. He was a pleasant young man and a jokester. But one thing he especially liked to do was to challenge the rest of us to see who could

We attend a little country church in our rural community. I have been involved in many community events and have taken on lots of assignments that have come from the congregation leaders. Mostly I have worked in scouting.

On Tuesday of one week, I had been asked by the congregational leaders to take

It had been a hard year in our rural community. Lots of older people had passed away, leaving their spouses alone. There had also been quite a few farm accidents from which people were recovering. To add to that, farm prices were low, and many in our community were looking toward the upcoming year

Cyrus was an old farmer and had worked hard all of his life. He was independent, but he was getting older and everything was just a little bit harder. Still, he was determined to maintain his independence and pride.

When the Boy Scouts came around wanting to rake his leaves, he shooed them away, telling

 Donna and I had barely started dating. She played in the orchestra for a musical, so I went almost every night. One night after the musical finished, she invited me backstage. As we were mingling with other cast and orchestra members, one of them made an announcement.

“Hey, everyone, how would

My daughter Heather had had a bad day. In fact, the whole week hadn’t been that good. She had started school, and there was a mixup in her classes. By the time she had that straightened out, a few days of class had already gone by. She then had to catch up, and there was the challenge of friends

We were in a theatre production, and the men’s changing room was nothing but an old converted closet. We were stuffed tight in there, which made for times of joking, telling stories, and barely getting into costume before the opening scene. One night we were still getting dressed when the preshow

A truck was approaching, and I recognized some art work on the side and smiled. I thought back to the first day of class a couple of years earlier. The students were introducing themselves. When we got to Wyatt, his introduction was unique.

“I am a graffiti artist,” he said.

“Not like the graffiti

Sunday, after church, we loaded our harp into the van, then, connected the van to the tent trailer. We were soon on our way to a music camp for our daughter Elliana to be part of an orchestra and a choir. We arrived at our destination shortly before five in the afternoon and rushed to the school where

I was scoutmaster to eighteen boys. On Tuesday nights I handled the scouting activities, but on Sundays, though I met with them in their church class, another man taught them. But one week, after he finished the Sunday lesson and everyone was leaving, he stopped me.

“Daris, I would like you to teach

My phone rang, and when I answered, it was Andy. “Hey, Daris,” he said, “can you come help me? My printer isn’t working.”

It was the early days of the internet, and most people didn’t know anything about it yet. A teaching salary didn’t pay all of the bills for my family, so I worked

I finished passing back the linear algebra tests that I had graded to my students. “Check the tests over,” I told them. “Check to make sure the points I gave you add up to the score that I gave you. Let me know if you have any questions, or if there is anything that you disagree with.”

David

My scouts, like most young boys, were very competitive and always looking for an edge on everything. That seemed especially true when it came to food. They always wanted the biggest cookie, the best looking cupcake, or the largest steak.

I had only been a scoutmaster for a short time when I first saw

My son, Scott, and his wife, Janalyn, lived with us for a while this summer after graduation. His job didn’t start until September, and it gave us a chance to get to know Janalyn. Our life was quite a bit different from how she grew up. She had never canned food before, and she soon learned the

Years ago, about the time Russia was opening up more to tourists from the west, three of my colleagues from the university decided to take a few weeks of their summer and travel there. They didn’t have any itinerary; they would just go and hope for the best. Upon their return, I asked Loren about

I was an offensive guard on our high school football team. We had a good line. We worked hard and practiced hard. Our backs were incredibly talented, but too often, because of their talent, they didn’t practice to their full potential. Often their efforts were only half-hearted. Johnson, our leading

School was ending for the summer, and my roommates and I were all preparing to go our separate ways. Jim was getting married, so we all made plans to meet again at his and Michelle’s wedding.

Bruce suggested that we all pool our money and buy one bigger gift. He said he would be in charge of purchasing

My brothers and sisters have settled far and wide across the United States. This makes it hard to get together due to the cost of travel and hotels.

My mother bought a small condo that is somewhat central to many of us, and has invited us to use it to reduce expenses as we travel. It is in a warmer

My wife, Donna, looked out the window and saw two little girls. The girls are about nine years old and are good friends. Both of them are from single parent homes and have struggled in the tough situations they have found themselves in. We have watched these little girls, who were already quite shy,