When Life Is More Than We Dreamed (Life's Outtakes - Year 3) 52 Humorous and Inspirational Short Stories

Carrying Packs To The Top Of The Mountain

     My scouts needed to go on a hike for one of their scout patches. We voted on where to go, and the vote came out to be Table Mountain. I have hiked Table Mountain with my scouts and with my family more times than I care to count, and every time I do, I swear I will never go there again. But I had promised my scouts that anything they would do, I would do as well, so I had to go.

     That hike is six miles one way, climbing 6000 feet. But harder than the climb is that when I go with my scouts, there is always one or two who hike so slowly that we can't get into a good pace. When I hike, I like to take full length strides, but I am always the last one off the mountain and have to follow the slowest group.

     That particular year wasn't any different. Although 14 of the boys were in good shape from lots of farm work, two did nothing all day but watch television and play video games. I knew it would be a torturous hike.

     Before sunrise, we started by going through a checklist of everything they should have in their packs. We checked off water, food, rain gear, an emergency flashlight, and snacks for along the way. The sun was just peeking over the mountain when we lifted the packs to our shoulders and started the climb up the first set of switchbacks that took us into the heart of the canyon.

     Just as I feared, my assistant scout master was soon far ahead with 14 of the boys, while I found myself behind the other two, who plodded along and needed to rest after only short intervals. We hadn't gone much more than a hundred yards before they were gasping for air and I had to transfer their packs to my own back. I found their packs to be heavier than I expected, but assumed it was because I was getting older.

     Now, carrying their two packs plus my own, I found myself tiring quickly, but I was determined to continue on. All of their talk was about video games and movies - things I participate in very little.

     Even though I was tired from the extra load, I felt an anxiousness to keep moving, knowing that getting caught in a late afternoon thunderstorm could be dangerous. Still, we had to stop often for rest, not for me, but for them.

     It seemed like forever before we reached the final ascent to the summit. At this point we met the other group coming back down. My assistant told me they had waited for us at the top for about an hour, but had finally grown impatient, and he could detain them no longer. They left some treats with us, and, as it was already getting late into the afternoon, the three of us decided to stop and eat lunch before making our last push to the top.

     As my two boys opened their packs, exposing the contents, a feeling of frustration, anger, and disgust almost overcame me. Their packs were full of hand held video games.

     You mean I have carried these stupid things all the way up here?! How in the world do you think they are going to help you on the mountain?!

     I pulled the games out with the consideration of throwing them over the edge of the cliff, but they begged me not to. Probably, the only thing that truly deterred me was that I would be littering.

     They promised they would carry their own things from there, but only a few minutes farther along into the steep climb, I again found myself straining under all three packs.

     Finally, we were almost there, only a few feet from the summit, and the boys stopped me.

     We want to carry our packs from here.

     When I asked them why, they rolled their eyes. Well, duh, how do you think it would look if we weren't able to tell everyone we carried our packs to the top?

Those Who Make Us What We Are

     I hadn't thought too much about it until that day. I think the reason may be that, in my junior and senior years of high school, I received a lot of acclaim in athletics. I won honors in football, wrestling, and track. I don't mention this to brag, but to do just the opposite - to use it as a means to indicate what might happen when we are caught up in our own successes, not paying attention to what and who got us there. But on that day, I thought much more deeply about it because of something that happened.

     I was nearly always the last person into the locker room after practice, and that night before the match against our biggest rival was no different. I knew what it took to be a champion, and when the rest of the team headed to the showers, I turned and ran an extra mile. It was always that extra bit of effort, when I was absolutely exhausted, that gave me the edge in a game, a match, or a meet. That also meant I was usually last to get dressed. But on that day, I also realized I needed to get a math book from my locker to study for a test the next day.

     When I entered the main part of the school and walked toward my locker, all was quiet. As I rounded the corner, I stopped. Van, who wrestled J.V. in my same weight, was there and acting very strange. I slipped back into the shadows and watched him. He was doing something to his own locker, but kept glancing around nervously.

     I really needed to be home doing chores, but my curiosity kept me there, waiting until he finished. Finally, with one last, quick, nervous glance around, he left. I walked toward my locker, but stopped in front of his. That's when I saw that the lockers of all of the varsity wrestlers, including my own, were decorated with crepe paper, fancy drawn cougars (our mascot), and good luck wishes. Van's locker was adorned in a somewhat similar fashion, but the pictures weren't as well drawn, and, at the bottom, he had added From Your Secret Admirer.

     It was then that I realized that the praise and glory I had grown to take for granted was not part of his life. He had lived in my athletic shadow all through high school. And yet, I also realized that, in many ways, he made me what I was. He was the one that pushed me to be better, always there to take my place if I didn't perform to the best of my ability, never stepping into the limelight himself.

     I can't quite put into words my feelings as I stood in front of his locker that evening, but I do remember my desire to do something about it. The next morning I joined my friends in teasing Van about his Secret Admirer, keeping the secret I knew to myself, as he reveled in the attention. But later that day, I did ask the wonderful, beautiful young lady, who was our cheer queen, if we could visit privately. After making her promise to keep my secret, I told the story.

     I would like you to do a favor for me, I told her. The next time you decorate lockers, don't worry about decorating mine. Instead, you choose one or more of our J.V. wrestlers' lockers and do theirs.

     She smiled her gorgeous smile at me, and her big brown eyes sparkled as she laughed and shook her head. Right! Not decorate the locker of one of our team captains? It would never do. I have a better idea.

     She then told me she had a dilemma of her own. There was a group of girls that hadn't been elected cheerleaders, but still wanted to be involved. We both realized the solutions to our problems were the same. She would get the other girls involved decorating the extra lockers.

     Toward the end of the week, the day we left for a big tournament, I came to school and found the locker of every wrestler, J.V. and Varsity, decorated. I walked up to Van and saw him staring dumfounded at his own.

     I whacked him playfully. Wow, your secret admirer is good! He turned and looked at me, the shock evident in his face. But I didn't... He stopped for a moment before he tried again. I mean, I'm sure it wasn't her.

     From then on, there was more unity on our team than there had ever been before, and we had a whole new group of girls cheering for us, too.

     Through the years, I have had others, my wife especially, who have quietly, in the background, helped me be a better person. I hope they know that I am their secret admirer, admiring them for who they are and what they've done for me.

     And if they had a locker, I'd decorate it.

A Case Of Freezer Burn

     I had been visiting Buster and helping him on his computer. When I finished, he asked me if I would be interested in some old hamburger he had in his freezer. It wouldn't be any good to eat. You'd have to feed it to your dog.

     I figured our dog would like a change from dry dog food, so we made our way out to Buster's garage where his freezer was. When he opened it, I was shocked to see a bird there that, at that time, was on the endangered species list.

     I gasped. Buster, what in the world are you doing with that in your freezer?!

     I found it. It was underneath a power line. Apparently, it died of electrocution.

     What is it doing in your freezer? You can't have that!

     But I didn't kill it. I just found it. It was already dead.

     I explained to him that the law didn't just say that a person couldn't kill one, but it was illegal to even have it; it was a felony.

     Buster, you need to take it back and put it right where you found it.

     He seemed reluctant to do so, but he promised me he would take care of it immediately.

     I didn't think any more about it for a year or so. As a cub scout pack leader, I organized many events. For one of them, we were supposed to talk about animals and nature. A man in our community, Jay, was a game warden, so we contacted him to see if he would be willing to come and visit with the boys about animals and conservation.

     He was happy to do so. In fact, he said, I have a great idea. I will see if I can get permission to bring our education trailer with the animals that were prepared by a taxidermist to use when we go to schools.

     He was able to get permission, and we all looked forward to that night. When the evening arrived, he showed up early. He pulled in with a pickup pulling a large enclosed trailer. We helped him haul the animal collection into the church where we met for our cub scout pack meeting.

     There were small animals, including a squirrel and a chipmunk. There were medium sized animals such as a coyote, a rabbit, and a fox. Jay had the head of a few large animals, including a moose and an elk. He had many types of birds and a few different types of bats.

     As the other cub scout leaders and I would bring one of them into the church, Jay would direct their placement. By the time we finished, the whole room looked like a forest full of animals.

     When the boys arrived, they walked in, wide-eyed and excited. Jay did an excellent job telling about each animal and how it lived, what it ate, how it raised its family, and so on. He had some recordings of the sounds some of the animals made. He finished by talking about conservation and what each of us could do to help the animals. He told how some animals are in danger of going extinct and what is being done to protect them. The boys listened intently and the meeting was a great success.

     Afterward, as we were eating brownies, I happened to be looking at a bird that looked like the