Four Thousand Quarters

When I was in my early teens, I worked in the accounting office at Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, UT.  My daily routine was limited to one task: counting the money that was taken in from the day prior at the Park.  We were a small crew of about 7 kids, and with the oversite of an adult accountant manager, we would count on average about $70,000 a day.  One day, a friend was handing me a bank bag that had $1,000 in quarters.  I thought I had a good grip on it, and she thought she still had a grip as well.  The next thing we knew, we were watching a silver waterfall of 4000 coins pouring before our eyes onto the floor.  It was one of those weird events when you feel your life is flashing before your eyes and you think, "this can't be real".  But it was, and I was sure it would be taps for both of us.  But the manager just laughed, and we spend the next hour or so picking up stray quarters from every corner of the room.  

LESSON LEARNED:  Not much.  I still do dumb things like that.

Pioneer Wagon Wheel

One day when I was a young boy, while playing with other kids at our family farm in Kaysville, Utah, we found a pioneer wagon wheel lodged in the side of the creek that ran by our property.  What a find!  In our ignorance of its signficance, we had found a new play toy.  We spent the afternoon rolling it down the hill into the creek and into the mud.  Eventually it broke, and was immediately abandoned by us.  It wasn't until years later that I learned that my great- grandfather, Alfred Alder, was one of the original pioneers of Kaysville, and settled close to the very fields where our farm was located.  Though the wheel could have belonged to any random pioneer wagon, the fact that we were so oblivious to how significant the artifact was has always been in the back of my mind.

LESSON LEARNED:  Understanding our ancestors and their past may hold some the greatest treasures life can offer us.

FEEDBACK:  WHAT DISCOVERIES HAVE YOU MADE ABOUT YOUR ANCESTORS? 

Girl Named George

George joined our family when I was nine.  She was the black cockerpoo runt of a litter of seven.  I was so excited when the Brown family's poodle had the puppies.  I remember the day I ran through the fields home to beg mom and dad to let me have one of them.  My excitement and enthusiasm won them over, and I was awarded the task of picking out our puppy.  I flew back to their home, my feet never touching the ground.  As I inspected each of the black puppies, I counted only six of them.  I was told that the littlest one, the runt, was too shy to join the other and was hiding inside the back corner of the dog house.  It was like a flash of lightning: that was the dog for me.  I named her George. George was always shy, but she blossomed into a wonderful member of the family.  She was always afraid of others outside of our family, and would hide under the couch in the same spot whenever someone came over.  She was like a miniature jet coming in for a crash landing as she belly-whomped under the old sofa.  And you could always count on finding those piercing eyes peering back at you from under there.  George and I became best friends.  We were both kind of quiet and shy in our own ways I suppose.  In spite of this, she was loyal and dedicated to the family until the day she died.  I can only hope to do the same.  

LESSON LEARNED:  The solid friends in life aren't necessarily the loudest or most flambouyant ones.  They are the quiet but constant presences that are always in the background, and are like us in many ways.

FEEDBACK:  WHAT BLESSINGS HAVE COME INTO YOUR LIFE BY QUIET AND UNASSUMING FRIENDS?