The Native Iowan

It’s the day after, the day after, here in my valley. We’re all still recovering. 825AM and the kids are up but moving slow. The dogs are pleasantly quiet. I have a fresh pot of coffee near to hand. The day is overcast and quite chilly. Temps here going to be cool all day. Rain has been on and off. The air smells fresh, the flora is shining, the fauna is noiseless. I sit wrapped in a granny-blanket.

As this year, 2025, grinds to a close, I consider, ponder, ruminate upon a number of thoughts…

The world has appeared to have changed so, so much since I was “young”. And, of course, I have changed so, so much – since I was young…

Once, long ago, I was a builder, a do-er, a nonstop action figure that climbed ladders and swung hammers and toted and carried and mixed cement and poured footings and erected structures and welded metal… and more… Living “on the water” we knew the ocean, the weather, the reefs and the lagoons. We fished and hunted. Moving nonstop, endlessly… Being young and beautiful is a lot of work…

During this time I was too busy to be too involved with the things that were too far away, too external to my immediate needs and demands. For all of the 80s and 90s I watched, had access to zero (literally ZERO) television. I listened to the radio for “news”. Periodicals were important. Information was important.

In my elderly youth I find information easy to access. Visual, audio, written info surrounds and accosts the senses. Modern, push button info gathering is available without thought. It is an info-world of garbage in/ garbage out. Unlike my beloved set of Encyclopaedia Brittanica with its accompanying Greatest Works of Western Man, all one needs to do these days is ask a question and the answer(s) comes back AI generated. No page turning or mental sifting required.

But there is info that is substantial, like my beef roasts. Just as there is info that is candy, sugar for the brain. And like sugar rotting one’s teeth, much of what passes for info these days do rot the brain.

I find I spend a fair amount of time sifting through info, reading and ruminating… I no longer believe there to be a “trusted” source for newz, for the bluez…

Much of life is cyclical. I find that the cycles (circles) I travel through are similarly themed, and quite reoccurring… Life’s rich pageant parades past, again and again and again… Is there such a thing as “original thought”.

We were all babies that grew to toddlers, gained language and life lessons and grew into youth. I have a couple 4year old kids in my family. It’s a good age. They are competent humans, almost. I have a couple 10year old kids around too. They are more than competent. You can leave the 4year olds with them, sometimes, if you’re lucky.

And life grows and changes and ages and matures… My biological self is aging. My joints ache, my old injuries, my scars, my past mistakes are all well known. Very evident.

As I approach 70 years of age, I begin to agree with my old friend, W.E., who states that there is early youth, middle youth, and later youth. According to him I have passed my youth and middle youth, am currently enjoying my later youth.

An old smart-assed line comes to mind… “You are only young once, but can be immature forever”.

And the beat goes on… only a couple more sleeps until 2026…

Smiles