One of my favorite songs is titled “Come in From the Rain,” and I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately.
Having evolved from a humble home with humble relatives and goals, I must say with complete sincerity that I am grateful for the things I have both experienced and accomplished over the past nearly 525 dog-years. In fact, when I review the history of that journey, I sometimes marvel at that completely unpredictable somewhat off-the-wall list.
If anyone had ever told me I would have ended up running hospitals and a few research institutes after having been a school band and orchestra director, leading an arts center and being a tourism CEO, not even I would have believed it.
It’s been quite a journey, and thankfully, however restricted it has been recently, it’s still going on today, and that is more than I can say for dozens of my friends and relatives. So, there’s definitely that. When it all boils down though, I can honestly say I wish everyone could experience the peace of mind and contentment that comes from a look back at a life fully lived.
I do continue to have dreams and wishes for the future. The most important wish I have for 2022, however, is for you, your loved ones, family and friends. In my case, my two kids and their mates plus our six grandkids, and my wife who all need special attention as we try to dodge round five of this virus-filled, chaotic time in American history.
I’m praying for order. That’s it, plain and simple. If I had to describe my premier New Year’s wish it would just be for order, free from the chaos that enveloped us these past several years. All I’m proposing is that we embrace that order over chaos. Let the plague end. Let the fighting end. Let the misunderstandings and hatred end. Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with you.
Oh, wait, those were also lyrics from a song.

New Year from a Boomer

2-O 2-1 is now fading away, and so are the memories some happy, some not.
With the new year approaching and daylight extending, let’s celebrate the good things we’ve got,
Like our family, our friends, like our pets and our homes, and our health and that favorite chair.
If you’re older like me, love the fact that you’re free and you still have some small clumps of hair.
Love the sunshine, cool breezes, the snow-covered mountains, the Sheetz stores wherever you turn.
Love the fish fries in Lent, and a clean dryer vent, and the fact that you’re not in an urn.
The economy’s booming and jobs are rebounding while normal life makes its way back.
We continue to learn the full value of sleep, and what time we should hit the ole sack.
If you’re reading this, it’s ’cause you’ve made it through Christmas, in my case that’s 74–
Right, 74 times I’ve hung out with Santa, and snuck him in through the front door.
Set your goals now for 2-0 2-2 if you can, drop five pounds and drink some red wine.
Eat some dark chocolate, and don’t get the COVID and make sure your blood pressure’s fine.
Turn off cable news, and wear comfortable shoes, and make sure that you go for a walk.
Live your life with ambition and make sure permission is not part of anyone’s talk.
’Cause we’re finite on earth, and we know that’s a rule that even the rich can’t escape,
So we might as well do all the good that we can, while we can, that would be no mistake.

Now stand tall and straight with your shoulders flung back and cry out with the most gleeful strain:
Happy New Year my friends, have a wonderful year and for gosh sake come in from the rain.

The song writer, Frank Loesser wrote the now politically incorrect song titled “Adelaide’s Lament” for the Broadway Musical, “Guys and Dolls” which first came out in 1950.  In the song he refers to the stress a woman faced “back in the day” who had not yet found a husband. So much stress in those days that, “A person could develop a cold. La grippe. La post nasal drip. With the wheezes. And the sneezes. And a sinus that’s really a pip!”  It also said, “You can spray her wherever you figure there’s streptococci lurk. You can give her a shot for whatever’s she’s got, but it just won’t work.”

So, my seven-year-old Petri dish grandson developed a cold. He passed it on to pretty much everyone he knew including his first grade significant other. That cold ran through his house like California brush fire until it landed safely in his grandfather’s nose. Unlike 1950 however, a cold is no longer a cold. You see, I had two important meetings coming up and I was supposed to teach a three-hour leadership class on Friday, and I surely didn’t want to infect anyone with whatever is going around.

I drove to the local Rite Aid and bought a quick COVID test which came up negative, but how dependable are the quick tests? My son had had two negative tests and when the PCR came back, it was positive. Consequently, I masked up for the meetings and kept my distance. It was not until the night before the leadership class that things got tense. You see, after having had a slightly sore throat, and sneezing my way to oblivion, I developed a fever. That’s when I decided to go all out and find out what the heck was going on with my body. 

Now three years ago that would have meant, take it easy, blow my nose, drink plenty of fluids, take Tylenol as needed, get plenty of rest, and chew on some Vitamin C tablets. But today we have to be concerned about COVID, Flu, Strep throat, a Strep blood infection, and even Lyme. Having had a strep infection from a 32-year-old root canal earlier this year, the possibility of a reoccurrence and 42 days of IV antibiotics was still on the table.

The other thing that is different now is the hospitals are full, and they usually can’t let you in if they’re testing for COVID or you think you might have COVID. So, all of these tests that I described for all of those potential ailments had to take place in a 30 degree parking lot with dainty snowflakes drifting slowly from the sky. Let me be clear, I was in my running, heated car, but the laboratory technologists and nurse had to stand outside my car in their light-weight scrubs while they swabbed my nose, drew my blood five different ways from Sunday, and did all the things they had to do to rule out these numerous potential invasive bugs.

During my first year of teaching, I had nearly 150 students in my marching band. I alone would load them into five school buses with only me and the bus drivers as chaperones. My last year of teaching I had 120 students, an RN on every bus, parents on every bus, a brief case filled with the prescription drug permission slips for each student, and parental permission to allow a student to be treated at any emergency room. Oh, and did I tell you?  That was 1979. 

Now that 80% of the deer in Iowa have been diagnosed with COVID, and it may be cross-over COVID. That could mean that for the first time, deer would be thinning the human herd rather than humans thinning the deer herd. What a complicated world we live in because “A person, could STILL just develop a cold.”