Daryl

May 11, 2018  My family and I recently returned from Peru. A trip we planned over a year ago, actually a trip that has been in the works for years. Daryl served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints there from 1981-1983. He was able to visit Machu Picchu at least a half a dozen times while he was there. We were able to celebrate Daryls 50th birthday together roaming around the same streets and areas he had been as a young missionary 31 years earlier. I remember him saying, "If you think the Wasatch mountains are magnificent and beautiful wait until you see the Andes." He was right! We took a train from Cusco to Machu Picchu, along the way we saw people hiking and I was so jealous, I wished we had done that. We talked about coming back with our family one day and doing that hike. We were going to return when all of our girls were married. The perfect 10 in Peru hiking to Machu Picchu that's what I envisioned! I called us the perf...

As long as I can remember Daryl was always striving for self improvement. One summer, I think around 1990 when we were on a family road trip he shared what he was learning from a new book he was reading. The book was 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. We were both so intrigued by habit 5 that it became a focus within our relationship and our family. I wouldn't say that we mastered this habit or any of the others but they were important to us as useful tools and reminders during "discussions" which kept us grounded. At this time Daryl was running a wholesale distribution company. A company that his father invested in and wanted Daryl and I to run. We started that in 1985 and later bought it from his parents. A company that he really loved. A company that he wanted his employees to feel like they were family. He liked the idea of being a "coach" and not a boss to them. I remember in 1997 he and I went to the movie First Knight, there was a line from the mo...

One year ago, mid January I was scheduled to work out of town for a week in Great Falls, Montana. While I was there I received a text from Daryl saying he was in Atlanta in hopes of catching a stand-by flight to Lima, Peru. It wasn't a big shock because a few days prior he had asked me the dates of my work trip to Great Falls.  I knew then he was up to something! I even made the assumption, you're planning on going somewhere right? He just laughed and said no, I'm sure it wouldn't work out. So, when I saw the text... I wasn't really happy for him. In fact, I was a little upset. I was working and even though he had a few days off, there were things at home that I thought he should be doing. Then I realized I was mostly bugged because I was in 14 below zero temps and Daryl was on his way to Peru without me. With just a couple of weeks into the new year, my mind went back to our New Years Day tradition of setting goals and one that Daryl expressed was to live life with...

A few days ago I got out some old Christmas cards that Daryl had given me over the years. Call me crazy, as if I wasn't already in enough pain, right? All of my nicest clothes, high tech gadget gifts and jewelry have been from Daryl, but the gifts that I have treasured the most have been his cards. The last few years I even told him all I wanted was a card. I looked forward to seeing a card placed on my pillow on Christmas Eve. I loved these cards because he would write the most thoughtful messages in them. This year Daryl mentioned more than once that he thought it would be fun and interesting to write a letter using only phrases from different songs. So this is my attempt to write a Christmas letter as if I were Daryl. I have used some of his favorite artists and songs. It's an attempt. I am in no way as creative and ingenious as he was. When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy in the company of strangers-who taught me how to be sensible,...