Back from three days of in Des Moines, thinking about:
American attitudes,
(is life really what you make it? or would only a callous brute not be thrown off his stride by suicides, endless wars, shrinking newspapers on the one hand, and a sweet softball summer evening and a mother-in-law-in-love, on the other?)
American style,
(do the Dutch name their convenience stores with equivalents of Git ‘n Go, Kum ‘n Go, Juice ‘n Junk?)
the American public,
(why is it that any American mutt can go to Adventure Land, take one look at the bovine crowd, and feel like a Kennedy?)
and American history—
(it’s available for $6, general admission, at the Iowa Cubs ballpark, where the view over the centerfield wall is a golden state capitol dome on a leafy hill)
—and feeling no rush—it’s not even July 15 yet, I’m not yet 40, America might be as relatively young as Scout, and she’s just learning how to swim!—to draw conclusions.
Sounds like it was worth every mile.
Davy, I want you and the family to come spend a couple weeks with my family up here in Alaska. I’d love to take a fresh look at this beautiful place that’s my home, and show you all the things I think are really neat. They might not be the conventional “sights”–but I can show you the places that are special to me. Like a little shrine built in a horse pasture on a mountainside, where the family that owns it hopes anyone will stop in for some contemplative time. Or the little round hole I discovered in the side of my garage, where a brand-new flock of wee sparrows waits for their mama to bring them some food. We need a good long visit, and Scout would love the big yard, and the picnic table that looks like a big pink pig out in the gazebo, and all the pets. We need to do this!
Joan, that family campover will happen someday. Bank on it. You keep things together until then.