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The Best Family
I used to be scoutmaster to eighteen boys. I’m not sure what happened in our community, but there were two sets of twins, and almost every child born at that time was a boy. They were great, though...
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No Debt
My mother was in an assisted living center, and I visited her often. I especially made time for Sunday visits because we liked going on afternoon drives together. But one day when I came, she was very...
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Doing Good with a Government Check
The following is the continuation of a previous story. To see the first installment, CLICK HERE. Mom and I had a discussion about her government COVID check. It was fourteen-hundred dollars. She had...
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Doctor Bo
Gary had been through some tough times in his life, and Bo was just what he needed. Bo was a little rescue dog and the love he had for everyone came out in his wildly wagging tail. He was the...
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Doctor Bo Makes His Rounds
The following is part two of a two-part story. To see part one, CLICK HERE. Gary had seen how the patients at the nursing home responded to the visit from his little dog, Bo. Since the director told...
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That We Never Forget
A year ago, I was asked to be part of a play about 9/11. Most of the characters in the play were above impact in the first tower that was hit. As the play progressed, the characters began to realize...
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The Perfect Honeymoon
Larry was getting married. While his future wife was busy getting the right dress and planning her ideal reception, he was planning the perfect honeymoon. “What are you going to do?” David, the best...
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Rooster Peas
Anna didn’t know what to do. She was running out of food to feed her family. She and her husband had come west in their wagon with their young boys. There was lots of talk of good land free for the...
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Zucchini Season
It was fall, and that meant only one thing in the small rural community: zucchini season. As one old gardener said, “It’s always a good year for zucchini.” There could be droughts, the potato and wheat...
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Off-Roading
Arden’s married son, Jason, came to visit and wanted to have some fun. “Dad, why don’t we spin up some dirt and mud with my new Jeep? I hear the lake is really low this year. We could buzz along the...
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A Little Distracted
Tanya came up to talk to me after class. “Professor Howard, I don’t know what it was with your teaching today,” she said. “But you didn’t seem very consistent.” I wondered if something I had said might...
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Halloween Help
It was Halloween, and my friends had invited me to join them for some “surprise fun.” I didn’t know what they had planned but hoped to go. But I needed to make my usual treating rounds first. That is...
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An Unusual Courtship
After helping Mrs. Levi harvest her garden and apple trees, we sat down to hot chocolate and cookies, and she shared the story about how she and her husband, William, met. “My father had one brother,...
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Never Miss a Date Night
Sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please CLICK HERE The Bishop was coming to the church for his weekly Tuesday evening meeting. He saw the normal group of cars pulling into the parking lot....
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The Prairie Diamond
To read the previous part of this story, CLICK HERE. Mrs. Levi said that when William had asked her to marry him, her uncle refused to give his permission because he wanted her to remain as a servant...
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Called to Serve
To see the previous post in this series, CLICK HERE. Mrs. Levi continued with her story that Halloween night. She had finally put the challenges of her youth behind her when her husband was called to...
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Cookie Jar
To read the previous post in this series, CLICK HERE. After I helped her get in her harvest one Halloween night, Mrs. Levi told me about meeting her husband and how tough it was when he was called to...
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You Start on Tuesday
My wife, Donna, and I were visiting a harpist recently. Danni is getting old and has had to give up playing. “How did you get into playing the harp?” Donna asked her. “Well, I didn’t start on the...
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Short but Sweet Vignettes
Sometimes I have or receive stories that are short enough that they won’t make a whole column by themselves. But they are still very much worth retelling. I’ve decided to put a couple here. The stories...
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An Eight-Cow Wife
We have had an unusually cold fall, and it reminded me of the year my wife, Donna, and I got engaged. We met one summer at a small college in Idaho that we attended. I lived close by, but Donna was...
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