Last night, we celebrated our wedding anniversary. It was a glorious fall evening in Iowa. The fruit of the fields has turned from green to golden. The first leaves are falling and there is, even now, a hint of the fiery colors to come as autumn in the Midwest reaches it’s peak. In the midst of it all is the Mississippi, steadfast in it’s inexorable movement to the South and dotted with the continuous barge traffic that has fueled the engines of commerce for over a hundred years. Our only local concern was a decision on which restaurant to frequent. It turned out to be Fall Formal night and the finer eateries were brimming with long dresses, corsages and young necks encircled by unaccustomed ties. Quite a contrast to our former home, where neighbors are again boarding windows, hoarding water and anticipating the arrival of yet another hurricane. We wonder how Brady Road with her generator and her weather resistant design is faring among the swaying stand of trees that used to encircle us. And we worry about the kids, in harms way as another night of nature’s fury is about to descend. We toast 26 years together. But our thoughts are elsewhere.
