Nothing is Forever

I never gave it a second thought. There simply was always some variation of the barber's pole outside the place we went for a haircut. Of course those were the days before everyone was a stylist. Back "in the day," the barber shop was a place to sit with the guys. It was a place to listen to the adults talk about stuff like sports and politics; even though, as kids, we didn't understand it all. Best of all, it was a place for the guys to hang out. No girls. Well, such places are far less common, and the pole is even rarer. I saw this one when we paddled near Lake Mills a few weeks ago, and I thought about it today because another piece of my past has gone into history.

I will be picking up my younger brother in a few hours, and we will drive down to Illinois for the funeral of our Uncle Sol. He was the last of 4 brothers, one being our own dad. It truly signifies, to me, the end of a generation. They were, after all, the ones who lived through the great depression and world war II. They were the ones who admonished my generation to get an education, "...so you won't have to work as hard as I do."

Appropriately, the skies are crying this morning.

Paddle safe...
DS