2012-08-18 – Met two girls while we were in Iowa.

The first girl was a waitress in one of those small towns whose boundaries are marked by a sequence of posted speed limits: 55, 35, 25, 35, 55. By the time you reach the second 35, you’ve missed it. The restaurant served mostly pizza. The lunch salad bar was closed by the time we got there and only a few tables were occupied.

Our waitress was a cute girl who was evidently new at waitressing. From across the room, the manager was chewing her out for not waiting on her own family, who apparently was at one of the tables.  The girl seemed shy, as we had to pull every word of the waitress routine out of her. We didn’t want to wait for a pizza, so we ordered sandwiches. Hamburgers? Yes we have them. Does it come with anything? Yes. What? Lettuce, tomato. Fries? Yes. Coffee? We have it. Cream? No. Sugar? On the table. More than two packs of sugar? Here’s two more. And so it went.

The second girl was at the desk of our hotel. Also cute, this girl was nonstop chatter. I’m going to college this week, she informed us. She’s on the softball team but she tore her ACL last spring and had surgery. And she’s a bio major, but has had it with school, so she thinks she might become a nurse rather than a doctor because the nurses were so nice when she had surgery on her ACL over the summer. And did we know that her hamstring is now connected to her ACL and that she also had surgery on her shoulder and has a series of little pins in the shoulder. And she’s in physical therapy and it sometimes really hurts, but it’s getting better. Which is a good thing, since she’s a catcher, which is hard on your knees and shoulder. And . . .

Whoa! Slow down and check us in. Please. And good luck this year in college.

One girl miserly. One girl generous to a fault. How does it happen?

On our way home from Iowa, we travelled through southern Wisconsin. Our niece in Kenosha was watching one of our dogs. The road travelled through Paul Ryan’s 1^st congressional district. Rolling farm land with neat farm houses, barns, and grain elevators. Small towns of the type found on the road in Iowa, but seemingly more prosperous. Resort towns on small lakes. Urban areas near Kenosha.

Fertile soil for generous souls. And for misers and hoarders who have never known want.

<This post was delayed till 2012-08-19 due to router problems.>