My Hillbilly Hat
The memory of this day remains embedded deep in my brain. It was the summer of 1969, I was engaged to Carol Sorensen, and we decided to go rabbit hunting with my good friend Bill, my sister Connie, and her date (I lined her up). I was wearing an old felt hillbilly hat that I…
Read MoreOur Italian Thanksgiving
In the fall of 1967, I was living in Bergamo, Italy, a small city in the foothills of the Alps, working as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was living with three other missionaries, and this day was the American Thanksgiving. We were missing our families and thinking about…
Read MoreSummertime and the Living is…
Many kids, parents, families are having a hard time finding that easy feeling this summer. Think back to your best summer memories. Cal remembers long, hot days moving sprinklers and pitching hay on his uncle’s dairy farm. Hard work? Yes, but also satisfying and done in the company of cousins and an uncle…
Read MoreSummer of ‘69
It was the summer of ‘69, and I couldn’t wait for summer school to start. I was thrilled to get up early and walk over to the high school. REALLY? Actually, yes, really. Because, you see, all year I’d watched EVERYONE ELSE enroll in Driver’s ED, that coveted rite of passage into the…
Read MoreHere’s How You Can Make Your Neighborhood Safer
Neighborhoods are not the same as they were just a couple of decades ago. You’re less likely to see kids playing in the street, and in many cases, neighbors are not as social as they once were. This lack of healthy activity and interaction among communities can raise safety concerns. After all, when you have…
Read MoreEver Eaten a Walkie Talkie?
“Have you ever eaten a walkie talkie?” asked our grandson Calvert’s friend, a young man from Birmingham, England. He had a pretty strong accent, so my first reaction was to assume I had misunderstood him, or he was playing some kind of joke on me. Of course, I hadn’t eaten a two-way radio. …
Read MoreAmbrose, His Dog, and the Calf
My grandfather, Ambrose Call was born on his father’s farm in Bountiful, Utah, on February 29, 1888. Being a farm boy, his father expected him to work hard and taught him what he expected from farm boys. From a young age he was given daily chores and, using his own words, he described his…
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