I grew up on a farm in Iowa near a very small town. I went to high school in a slightly less small town about ten miles from aforementioned small town. So I kind of have two hometowns.
You have no way of knowing this but I just paused to go in the house and wash sticky off my hands from eating sriracha peas. They have sriracha and garlic on them and they are spicy and delicious and generally awesome but what I want to know is, why the sticky? Maybe I should read the ingredients.
Anyway, I can't say that I learned anything on my trip, you know, gained great insights into life and whatnot but there were things that I had forgotten. And reminders are nice once in a while.
I don't know why I was surprised to see that my hometown (not H.S. hometown) has street signs. Of course there are street signs. There are streets, aren't there? Ergo.....street signs. Duh. The thing is (and I know this from both trick-or-treating AND from marching in parades in this town) there is no way there are more than ten intersections........(this just in...Google Earth confirms that this town has nine intersections....nine. That is all.) Here's one....
and another.....
....still don't believe me? Suck on this!.....
...but really, why wouldn't you believe me? Why would I lie? And may I say right here? that marching in a small town 4th of July parade is BRUTAL, because they don't want to leave anyone out and that damn parade somehow manages to go down EVERY street in the town so by the end of it all, you've marched about three miles in a town that's only five blocks long and it started at noon and that was back when high school marching bands didn't have nice summer uniforms of polo shirts and khaki shorts, noooooo we donned the sweaty stench of wool uniforms and were hallucinating about Shaun Cassidy in our dehydrated delirium and dropping like flies and just wishing for the angel of death to just come and TAKE US ALREADY!
There was usually a free soda at the end, though.
This is a very Irish community. Folks just fly that Irish flag all over the place....like this......
Notice that the Irish flag appears to be flying higher than the Iowa flag. Hmmmm. I don't know if that is a thing or what. But it is sending a very clear message to me. I think it's okay in this area to fly the green, white and orange no matter what the extent of Irish blood coursing through your veins. I, for example, have an Irish maiden name, the result of a long line of Irish men marrying German women. There is almost no Irish in me whatsoever, and I am certain that there are many, many others similarly afflicted. But in that area, if you've any Irish, you're Irish enough. I can't say that I've ever noticed a German flag there...or anywhere really. I see the German sticker on cars. Never on flags. Weird.
A visit to the local cemetery cemented the notion of the area's heritage. Yes, I know it's a very Irish community. Did I not mention that earlier? But, the cemetery, wow.
It needs to be mentioned right here and now that I am one of those weirdos who loves cemeteries, as long as I'm not there to visit someone specific. When my Dad jumped to accompany me, I knew where I got it. More background.....my Dad and some other guys from the church worked their everlovin' asses off fixing up the cemetery a few years ago. It had become a bit of a mess (apparently) but now it's really beautiful. Many of the stones date back to the 1800's and they all tell where the person was born. Counties Kerry, Cork and Clare are the big winners here.
The last names are a who's who of my first communion class....yes the families are mostly still here. Noonan. Curoe. Mahoney. Molony.
Wow.
And the oddest thing....I know the life expectancy was significantly lower in those days, but there were a LOT of people who lived into their 80's. Actually a pattern evolved (maybe it was my imagination) but it looked to me like people died when they were under five, or around 20, 40, 60 or 80. So once you got past, oh, 23...you could relax for about twelve years. Then be careful for say....six years or so, then relax.....etc.
Seriously...it's interesting and so heartbreaking in the old part of a cemetery. So many children....
(reflective and respectful pause)
(deep sigh)
Okay, here's where I went to high school.
I graduated in 1982. In 1992 I went to my ten year reunion. The bartender described it as "100 people talking and nobody listening." Guilty.
In 2008, I skipped my 25th reunion.The reason I didn't go had nothing to do with math. I kind of went to high school with a whole bunch of assholes. But I think a lot of them only seemed like assholes at the time because well, you know, they were just trying to figure stuff out. So it turns out that I was probably an asshole to some people and some others probably thought I was but I was also just trying to figure stuff out. But there doesn't seem to be much point in sorting out who was and was not an asshole....so I didn't go.
(this is a sunset at my parent's house...it was more beautiful than the picture shows....trust me)
Go forward...... Move ahead.**
* For those of you who do not live in the midwest and/or did not pay attention in school ever, Iowa and Idaho are NOT the same place. They are also not Ohio. Thank you.
**Apologies to Devo.
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