Now for Something Completely Different

From Agony & Disappointment to One of Life’s Most Beautiful Moments

It’s August.

Trump is in the White House.

Iowa’s congressional delegation still acts like their job is to kiss Trump’s ring every time he speaks.

We can all use a break.

Isn’t that what August is for, anyway?

To be sure, there has been no shortage of outrages this past week. But I’m going to use the opportunity August presents to break away from the usual accounting of bad choices, terrible judgment, hyper partisanship, destruction of democracy, and march toward fascist authoritarianism in Washington, DC to tell a different kind of story this week.

It might take a while, and it is not what I usually serve up each week, but stay with me.

If you attended the Iowa Writers Collaborative (IWC) gathering in Winterset in July, you may have noticed something about me there: I missed it.

Not by choice, that’s for sure. No one was more disappointed than me. I looked forward to attending that event for months. It was a rare opportunity for IWC writers to meet and visit with paid subscribers in person, in real time.

Just as I was preparing to pack up the car and head out to Iowa from the nation’s capital a painful case of kidney stones landed. I soon realized I wasn’t going anywhere - much less driving a car 1,000+ miles each way.

If you have ever had kidney stones - and I hope you never have and never will - I know you understand.

So, first, my apologies for missing the event and the chance to visit with you.

Second, normally I wouldn’t spend a lot of time writing about my own bout with kidney stones or any other personal health issue. Hey, we all have them and many have issues far worse than even my dreaded kidney stones experience.

I’m making an exception this time because - oddly enough - despite the pain and disappointment, those kidney stones led directly to one of those super sweet moments in life for me.

Yes. Seriously.

August seems the perfect time to tell that story.

I spent nearly an entire week in bed, in a lot of pain and discomfort in July. Finally, I made an urgent trip to my doctor’s office to seek - plead for, actually - some relief. She prescribed some pain meds and some anti-biotics just in case there was anything else going on.

When I woke up the following Sunday morning to discover that the modern miracle of pain meds had finally prompted some relief - it felt temporary, and it was - I decided to enjoy the moment however long it lasted.

I hopped out of bed and dug out a theater ticket for that afternoon I was certain I was not going to be able to use and headed out to see the play as some much needed respite from the absolutely miserable week I had just endured.

The theater parking lot was full when I got there, so I had to park in an overflow lot about a mile away. They had a shuttle, so - so far so good,

The play was an unexpected delight - a serious drama with important insights, and moments of great humor sprinkled throughout. Though I feared a flare up at any moment - things went well, amazingly well.

In addition, it turned out the theater was holding a multi-stage extravaganza on its grounds, despite the heat and humidity, while I was inside being delighted by the play.

When I was ready to go home, I went outside just as the heavens opened up and dumped a heavy wind and rainstorm down on us.

I went back inside to stay dry while I waited, and began enjoying some of the performances which had moved inside.

As with most late afternoon summer storms, this was not a terribly lengthy one. Twenty, thirty minutes at the most.

When it was over, a bright sun quickly cleared away what had been a heavy, dark, cloud-packed sky just minutes before. The air temperature had fallen a good ten degrees.

I stepped out into that remarkably changed world just as a 30 member choir that had come indoors to perform started to sing a beautiful rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” song on a make shift stage - a staircase actually, not twenty five feet behind me.

I stopped in the doorway, one foot in, one foot out, soaking in and admiring the physical and sensory beauty I was about to step into; savoring the beautiful blend of voices coming from inside, all singing one of my favorite songs, mere feet from where I was standing.

The unexpectedly spectacular day that I was stepping into; the gorgeous voices singing the PERFECT song for that moment; coupled with the equally unexpectedly spectacular day I had just enjoyed after a week of kidney stone misery made time stop for me. I stood there, wrapped in the moment.

Yes, it is, indeed, a “wonderful world!” Especially that day, and especially at that very moment.

When that other moment comes - whenever it comes - when my life flashes before my eyes a final time, I’m pretty certain that this moment - that day at the theater, with me standing in the doorway, having just watched and listened to a spectacular thunderstorm, the smell of a fresh summer rain filling my nose; reflecting on the day I was having - the break in kidney stone pain, the wonderful play I had just seen, those voices and that song filling my ears from just behind me - all that will be on the highlight reel that flashes through my mind’s eye when that last moment comes, I’m certain.

It was a beautiful and sweet moment I know will stay with me always.

I know there is a lot of pain in the world, right now, even among some of my readers. I don’t mean to suggest - by a long shot - that my kidney stones were the worst things humanity was dealing with then (though at times that week I may have irrationally argued that point with you).

I knew “This, too, shall pass” (no pun intended), and the kidney stones eventually did. I’m fine now.

I pray that what the world and you may be experiencing will too, that the sun will come out in your world and our world soon, and that we’ll all have reason to remember that - despite the daily outrages and troubles - it is still very much indeed, a “wonderful world.”

SMITHSONIAN UPDATE: The Smithsonian has put back in its exhibit on presidential impeachments Donald Trump’s name on the list of presidents who have been impeached or faced serious impeachment proceedings. Trump’s name was removed in July after Trump ordered a review of Smithsonian content for “improper ideology.” Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice.

The new language now accurately lists Trump among presidents who have been impeached. The Smithsonian says no one specifically asked for Trump’s name to be removed - for the exhibit’s facts to be doctored - but a White House operative overseeing the “improper ideology” review noted the language was altered in July after the White House directed the “improper ideology” review.

WEEKLY OVER DUE FARM BILL TRACKER: 680 days

680 days have passed since the 2018 Farm Bill expired on September 30, 2023, without Congress passing a new one. (Total days as of Sunday, 08/10/2025).

Two thirds of Iowa’s congressional delegation serves on the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture Committees: Grassley (R-IA) and Ernst (R-IA) in the Senate; Nunn (R-3rd IA) and Feenstra (R-4th IA) in the House.

This weekly “tracker” monitors the time that continues to pass as the President, Congress - and Iowa’s congressional members, especially those who serve on the Ag Committees, fail to do their job of enacting a long over-due Farm Bill.

Check back for weekly updates.

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