Middles

Sunrise in St. Louis. It seems later than the one in DC. Maybe because in real time it is. DC is on the eastern edge of the Eastern time zone. St. Louis the middle edge of the Central time zone. Middle America. Middle times.

Yesterday's trip here went smoothly. Even the flight wasn't the typical pack-you-in-and-treat-you-like-livestock variety. There was plenty of room. Maybe two-thirds full. So the middle seat next to my window seat was empty. Room to stretch a bit while I was looking out of the window at the clouds below. The whole trip. Clouds below. At least the sun was up there. Unlike below the clouds in DC and St. Louis.

But today there are no clouds. Here. In the middle. I see from the weather that there are still drizzle and rain and clouds back on the eastern edge of the continent. Back where the news is all of the new Obama puppy and traffic on the beltway and politics as usual inside the beltway. In the middle none of that seems to invade the conversation or even matter. Unless you turn on the talking heads on the TV.

So, today it's off to a packed series of meetings about what to do to clean up the mighty Mississippi River. I flew over it last night coming into St. Louis. Seems like the River is big enough to take care of itself, as long as we just leave it alone to meander its way down to the Gulf. But instead of looking at the River as a River we tend to view it as other things. A highway for ships. A sewer to haul off our waste. A pretty vista to build homes and offices right up next to.

Every once in awhile, usually in the Spring, the River floods and reminds us of what it really is. A River. Someday it will go back to being that again. Right down the middle of the continent.