Category Archives: All Ages

“Racing the Recurring Night” By Chad Robert Parker

March 28, 2016NightmaresChad Robert Parker

I used to have a recurring nightmare. A childhood monster chased me through my dreams. It would start out normal, a nonsensical but pleasant imagination, and then would enter the demon. I thought the only way to end the dream was to outrace the beast. Each time I would get a little farther into the dream racing from setting to setting. Why was I having these dreams?

If I were to interpret the dreams, it probably does reflect a couple of identifiers at the time as the fastest kid around (maybe a sort of Flash complex) and my need to win.

The last time I faced the monster I realized that comparing my best to an unbeatable foe would not win me this battle.

“Run, Chad, run,” my oldest brother yelled out (like a Forest Gump moment). My opponent rose out of nowhere and gave chase. I ran as fast as ever, but he kept pace. Finally, I could actually run at full-speed, not the half-speed version that often woke me from my unaware slumber. As far as I could tell the race was for real.

I ran across the yard, along the street, through the park, and onto the beach. The sand slowed me. I started to become aware something was out of place. We lived in California, but not so close to the beach. A hand as big as the Hulk swiped at me. I ducked it back into the moment. I crossed a bridge. It gave way piece by piece (similar to Indiana Jones), but the monster now flew. Farther than ever before I knew more about this tormentor and pressed on. All land fell out from under me. I fell right through several levels of lands, screaming. Finally I fell into a football stadium and crashed into the ground. Players piled on and in one helmet I saw the scariest face of a monster you can imagine.

As a twelve year old I literally bolted out of my dream, free of my bed, and up the stairs to my parents, ahead of any fear behind me.

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“High Winds Warning” By Chad Robert Parker

March 21, 2016High Windsbillboards, construction work, high winds, storyChad Robert Parker

We could see the storm on the horizon. We would have to be quick to finish the billboard before it hit us. Typically a board took us 30 minutes. We figured the high winds reported on the radio in the neighboring county were still 20-25 minutes away. One last board and we would go home like always during high wind conditions. We could make it!

The storm was on us in 12 minutes. Wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour were powerful enough to blow over semi-trucks. We also knew we were sitting atop the worst billboards for exposure to wind, at Utah’s Point of the Mountain, where hang-gliders can catch a great up-draft. Wind bursts funneled around the canyons.

The sky turned dark grey. The rain pelted harder. I had just finished throwing in the second sidebar. The wind whipped the billboard flex upward, puffing it up like a sail. It pulled my grip out and scraped my forearm along the outer corner, gashing me. I held on tighter and pulled it in and wedged it back around the board. My partner worked his way to the last angle iron and attempted to catch the other end of my pole flapping wickedly against wood, metal, and anything else that dared to get in the path. He yelled, asking if I had a good hold of it. We could barely hear each other. Finally he managed to grab hold of his part. Then I set my hook and ratcheted it in place. We pulled off the clamps and racketed the top and bottom. By then the full force of the winds were pushing on us from every different direction. It’s wrath nearly paralyzed us. We cautiously traversed the ladder down to safety and gave each other a high five for a job well done.

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“Fighting Like Brothers” By Chad Robert Parker

February 22, 2016Pet Quirks, Sense of BelongingChad Robert Parker

If you thought it was bad trying to find acceptance in the new middle school, have I got a bully story for you. Try being a stray cat. Jazz-man had to fit in with a long established family cat: a cat that acted like sole owner, nay ruler, of the house and occupants the stray had been taken into. Kibbles immediately asserted dominance.

He would hiss and claw at Jazz-man at every opportunity. We often found Jazz-man hiding in the bookshelves wedged where only one animal could fit. He would be shaking and heaving, hadn’t touched his food or drink all day: a complete basket case of nerves. Besides that, Jazz-man was healing, replenishing fur and skin, from some obvious difficulties on the streets. It took a couple weeks but Kibbles threats started to wear off. Jazz-man had gained enough street smarts to sense it.

Jazz-man began testing Kibbles resolve and standing his ground. He was sizing Kibbles up for real. They got in a couple good scrape ups before they suddenly respected each other. I’m not sure we saw the full transformation. For a while we would come home and catch Kibbles letting Jazz-man clean his fur, which he would obviously stop allowing once he was spotted. Then we noticed their skirmishes seemed more like play. If one got hurt the other let up and then they were back at it shortly thereafter sneaking up and pouncing on each other, once again.

I still remember the days of Jazz-man’s eyes flitting in between bookshelves, testing whether it was safe to come out or not. But, I remember more the many years that followed where Jazz-man basically became the playmate in place of the brother that Kibbles had lost as a kitten. They were best friends forever.

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“Snow In Love” By Chad Robert Parker

February 13, 2016My Valentine, Snowy DaysValentine, Valentine gifts, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day storyChad Robert Parker

My Valentine’s Days have usually been single awareness days. It’s a day for those with relationships. And yet, I still like Valentine’s Day.

As a single male, and with no girlfriend at that time each year, it was the one day I could justifiably take a day off from weekend dating without feeling any regret, whatsoever. Then I saw the day from the single girl’s perspective.

One year a leader of single adults in my church was asking me what I was doing for Valentine’s Day. I told him my philosophy and that I would enjoy taking it easy that day. He lamented that their were several girls that day who would feel sad and not feel loved.

It wouldn’t be genuine for me to take them on a date and pretend like we were in love. Thankfully, I did have a few successful attempts at showing interest in innocent, bashful kinds of ways on Valentine’s Days through the years, but that mostly in grade school. Most of the time since I didn’t even have a prospect with whom I wanted to hint at that I would like to be her not-so-secret admirer. I thought of how women probably are not that excited to receive Valentine’s Day recognition as a sympathy gesture, especially if it came from the urging of married leadership.

Still, something would have to be better than nothing. That year, on the night before Valentine’s Day, was the worst snow storm I remember experiencing in Utah. It stranded me, and all my neighbors coming home from work, on Main Street in Lehi, UT for five hours. I had enough gas but I was getting hungry. I couldn’t eat the Valentine’s Day candy. I checked my trunk and found some dried out crackers. Yuck! Then I opened the back door to look for any other morsels stashed away. The balloons all started flying out. I lost half of them to the blowing wind. The person behind me was laughing at that. I did manage to attach one balloon per candy bag and delivered them at 2AM.

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“Hot Iron” By Chad Robert Parker

February 8, 2016Burnsburn, burn story, hickey, injury, iron injury, storyChad Robert Parker

Little kids learn early not to touch hot things. Of course, when they are told not to touch they are naturally curious and usually get burned anyway. If they have experience getting hurt they are more likely to listen to the danger of future possible injury. At any rate, they learn to trust their parents good judgement. Some take longer to learn these lessons than others.

In college, I had to iron my own clothes. I didn’t listen to my mother about how to do it. I had this bad habit of ironing my shirt after I was already wearing it. One day it bit me. I mean burned me. Well, to be exact, it slipped past my top button just for a moment and seared my skin right below my Adam’s apple. It hurt like crazy for a split second. And it left a mark, to boot, that looked a lot like a hickey. It was rather funny explaining that one for the next week or two.

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“Beagle Bites” By Chad Robert Parker

February 1, 2016Dog bitesbeagle, dog bite, dog bites, dog story, hunting dogs, walking dogsChad Robert Parker

A younger neighbor girl was really good about walking another neighbor’s dog. She loved dogs. I did not (At least not a complete stranger’s dog).

When I was young I was always shorter than my peers. I hated how dogs seemed to like picking me out of a crowd. I’m sure they were just playing but dogs can get rough especially when running in a pack. I remember a few of my friend’s dogs liked jumping near my face and nipping at my nose, whether I was running away or not. Dog owners often don’t train their dogs to behave well on or off of a leash.

Maybe dogs sensed my unease. I tried to not show it as the beagle approached with her master for the day. The dog walked erratically from one side of the sidewalk to the other tugging her along. It sniffed the grass, the pavement, and then my leg. “Oh, don’t worry, he’s friendly,” the little girl said. That’s when that dumb mutt sniffed my crotch, and then–that’s right, you probably guessed it–it bit me right in the unmentionables.

I recoiled and then instinctively punched that supposed hunting companion–man’s assumed best friend–right in the nose. Don’t get me wrong. One of my favorite books is about hunting dogs, “Where the Red Fern Grows,” and my family has even had a few dogs through the years. but I hate Beagles to this day. The dog yelped and whimpered as it hauled the little girl away. “What did you do that for?” She screamed. “I’m telling!”

“Go right ahead,” I yelled. “That dog bit me,” I moaned.

She went on and on about how that was impossible and that that dog was the nicest, smartest dog on the block. I didn’t have time to argue. I went home to check out the teeth marks. I didn’t really want to show anyone the evidence. Luckily, it was superficial enough and the dog was current on shots so that I didn’t have to go to the doctor or press charges.

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“Backyard Hockey” By Chad Robert Parker

January 30, 2016Snow Sportsanecdoting, hockey, ice rink, snow sports, sports story, winter sportsChad Robert Parker

You can tell the difference between an elementary school in Minnesota and anywhere else that I have lived by the accompanying hockey rinks. With snowy weather for more than half the year hockey is the predominant sport. Coming from California I spent most my recess spread eagle on the ice, feeling more like the puck.

I remember one year it snowed a couple feet. My dad got a shovel and started clearing a patch of grass. We thought he was crazy. He instructed us to help shovel the snow into a rectangular border a few feet high. We packed down the inside. Then we really thought it was crazy when he let the water run at one end. Before long we had a layer of water throughout our snow pack. He turned off the water line for good for the rest of the winter, but by morning we had an ice rink in our backyard. I got a lot better at ice skating and hockey that year.

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“Frozen Highways” By Chad Robert Parker

January 18, 2016Snowy Daysanecdoting, icy roads, snow days, stories, writing promptsChad Robert Parker

No where that I have lived has snow plowing and snow driving figured out quite like Minnesota does. You can build a snow man the first snowfall that won’t melt for 6-8 months later, yet I rarely saw a snow day to allow us to take off from school.

Utah has light fluffy snow that is great for skiing. The snow rarely stays in the valley for more than 2-3 weeks and there are only a handful of days each year where driving is tough. It seems like the drivers forget from year to year how to keep control without sliding off the road with the first snowflake.

Indiana has the chance for lots of snow days in rural areas where plows are few and far between, but even worse where the wind blows freely across unobstructed flat farmland. It can easily get packed down and make for icy roadways. The cold days are somewhere between Minnesota extremes and Utah’s mild flurries, but one time the whole freeway froze over.

I’m not talking about black ice. There was literally a 6-inch frozen ice layer stretching from our little town in Covington, Indiana for 8-10 miles or so to the Illinois border. Cars and trucks were backed up even farther. It was like a 4-6 hour crossing because no one was moving most of the time. Most people were outside of their cars talking. Many were making snowmen.

We tried to go to the family warehouse that day and put in a few hours work. We tried to take the backroads to our Illinois place of business. It did not work out. The back way was also backed up. I remember a trucker was handing out food from the back of his truck because without his truck running he couldn’t keep it fresh anymore anyway. By nightfall it started to get cold. We enjoyed a snack or two before we realized there was no chance we would be going to work. We returned to the comfort of home and the warmth of a fire.

There was still a line of traffic not moving on I-15 the next morning.

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“Never Say Never” By Chad Robert Parker

January 7, 2016New Year's ResolutionsChad Robert Parker

I visited the Philippines 5 times in 3 years. Since most of my vacation time is around Christmas I missed out on having a white Christmas for those three years. Being single I didn’t really mind spending the actual Christmas Day in the airport. Besides spending time on tropical beaches is quality time off.

Truth be known I had a few different girlfriends from the Philippines through that time and I made a point of visiting whenever I could. After the relationship ended in 2013 I didn’t think I would be back. After the friendship never got off the ground in 2014 and then cancelling a three month stay for which I had already bought airplane tickets with the intent of investing more time person to person, I really thought I would not be back.

In 2014 you could say I had an unwritten New Year’s Resolution to not go back to the Philippines. They say you should write a goal down if you expect to keep it. Well, you guessed it…At the end of 2014 I was back in the Philippines spending time at Christmas getting to know my future wife’s family.

In 2015, however, I enjoyed a white Christmas with my lovely wife by my side. She has experienced a lot of firsts in America, which I enjoy experiencing with her. She has made all of the difficult experiences of my past, on the path to finding her, completely worth the challenge of any failed (or successful) resolution. We have loved facing challenges together, rather than facing Christmas apart.

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“Missing Stockings” By Chad Robert Parker

December 25, 2015Last minute gifts, NewlywedsChristmas, Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas gifts, Christmas Stockings, Christmas traditions, gifts, traditionsChad Robert Parker

The first Christmas story alludes to the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ. Many of the Christmas traditions we celebrate today by recognizing Christmas on December 25th, however, have more origins going back to the Christmas story where Santa Claus began. It started with a man sneaking treats into kids socks hung over the warmth of the fireplace, if I’m not mistaken. Celebrating Christmas as a newlywed with my wife from the Philippines means we are learning each others’ traditions. I wanted to be sure Christmas Stockings were a part of that tradition.

I staked out a few stores and found the Stockings to fill with nuts, candies, popcorn, and the like, along with oranges, pomegranate (which she has never tried), and a filipina twist, mango. But I ran into one problem. My last minute Christmas shopping was not going to work this year.

We have been rather busy and always together. I found my one perfect opportunity to go to the store yesterday when I had a day off from work and after I dropped her off at her job. To my surprise the stores I had scouted out before, however, had already pulled the stockings from their offerings. So for Christmas Eve I will be creating makeshift stockings to put all of our goodies into. Merry Christmas!

Update: Christmas Eve on the 4th attempt I happened by a store with the perfect $1 stockings to go along with our humble Christmas Day. Stockings will be hung after all (fireplace not included). Merry Christmas!

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