Slice of Life Post for March 19, 2025, by Barb Edler (2:36-3:07)

Today is my last board meeting as the executive director of the Keokuk Art Board. We’re meeting a little earlier than usual because it’s my husband’s birthday, a really big one. I just took him out to lunch. He likes fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn. Although I do not mind making a meal like this one, it sure is nice to have someone else prepare the food. He got a piece of cheesecake, too, when I told the waitress it was his birthday. This will be our only celebration today.

Soon I will be back to work, planning the board meeting agenda. By 3:00 I will be making copies of last month’s meeting, the treasurer’s report and the agenda I’ve yet to write. I imagine I will complete that by 2:45. It’s a dull moment of time, fulfilling my necessary duties. Aren’t our lives full of these moments? Just get ‘er done kind of tasks that once completed, we move past and easily forget.

This final board meeting will be as uneventful as my husband’s birthday celebration. Time at this age is all relative. Sometimes there’s a lot to do, sometimes there’s little to do, knowing that soon there will be another distraction that captures our attention. I’m generally anticipating the next bomb to drop. Worrying is a genetic gene I cannot shed. One thing for certain is life goes on; things change whether we want them to or not. Endings close one door and opens another. I always get a little depressed when I know a final moment is approaching which inspired my poem today, a nonet.

Goodbye, Love

a blue light flickers, baptizing our
bittersweet goodbye, my swift tears
tenderly bless your beloved
face, I treasure each sweet
memory we’ve weaved
knowing our souls
will seek each
other
soon