Did I tell you the story about? What do old guys talk about when they get together? I am part of a group of guys who meet each day at the library in Frederic from 10 AM to 12 PM. There are some guys like Jerry and Dick who come in every day. Then there are some guys who come in frequently but not every day. Guys like Lowell, Reggie and Bill show up about half of the week. More infrequently are Tony, Reid and Andrea, Reid’s wife. Reid never ever goes anywhere without Andrea or perhaps it is the other way around. We also have the very infrequent participants like Eddie (A writer for the local newspaper) whom I will talk about another time. Eddie deserves a blog all by himself. In fact, each of the people I noted are probably deserving of their own blog.
Every day we gather for an informal talk about whatever is on anyone’s mind. No schedule. No agenda. No leader. Almost any subject is up for grabs. Jerry is the intellect of the group and seems to be the best read with the exception of Tony. Tony owned a bookstore and taught college for many years. Dick is a retired mechanic and the most sensible and objective member. Reggie is a nuclear physicist and that is the truth. Lowell is a drug rehabilitation counselor now raising some type of legal hemp. Reid is a former minister and Andrea is a retired lawyer. Bill was a teacher and now does great wood working art.
We sit around a table, drink coffee, chat and on Fridays we buy cookies from a girl who brings them in each week for sale. They are homemade and very tasty. Sitting around talking for two hours can sometimes have its boring moments. Not all of the conversations are equally interesting to participants. Some of us ease these boring moments by playing on our smart phones or reading the local newspaper. Others peruse the library stacks or stacks of movies for something to take home. Eventually, the conversation changes and those who may not have been interested in a previous subject then find that the new topic is of interest to them.
I have attempted to diagnose the content of our conversations. If you made a pie chart of the subjects of our conversations, I think it would look like this.
Old stories clearly dominate the discussions. The bad part of this is hearing so many old stories over and over again can be beyond boring. The good part is that since the majority of us are over 70 years of age, we usually do not remember much of each other’s old stories. The exception to this is Jerry. Jerry always seems to have a keen sense of when and how many times a tale has been told before. Some of us are worse offenders than others in terms of repeating old stories. It clearly does not matter to the person telling the tale. I for one feel that my stories get better each time they are repeated. 😊
Cars are our next most popular topic. I guess a bunch of old guys anywhere in the USA would find some common ground when it comes to cars. I don’t think there is anyone in the group who cannot remember their first car. Dick, the former mechanic, has the best knowledge when it comes to the inner workings of a car and anytime one of us is having car problems, Dick will have some good advice. Jerry who was never much of a motor head frequently zones out when the subject turns to cars. However, bring up Jeopardy or any old Turner Classic movies and Jerry will provide a better summary of plots and cast than you can find on Wikipedia.
Now you may have noticed that certain topics seem to correlate with the skill sets of group participants. However, when it comes to politics, we are all experts. Nevertheless, since Trump was elected, the group has more or less toned down its politics. I suspect that is because some of the group voted for Trump and some did not. There is a great divide in our land between Trump supporters and Trump haters. In the interest of harmony and civility our group has been shying away from discussions dealing with national politics.
More recently, our political discussions tend to focus on “local” political issues. A current hot topic is the citing of a new CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feed Operation) in Trade Lake. Trade Lake is a town just north of Frederic by about six miles. The operation would involve the establishment of a large hog farm on some local farmland. Many townsfolk are against it and a number of groups have organized to stop it from being built. Reid and Andrea live on Trade Lake and have taken a keen interest in stopping the citing of the CAFO. Numerous stories abound about horrible smells and water pollution from pig farms. Eddie (our journalist) has attended many of the Trade Lake Council meetings where the discussions have often become quite heated. Once known for his lack of objectivity, he has been working harder these days to “give us the facts and nothing but the facts.”
Once the CAFO becomes old news, there is sure to be something that springs up worthy of discussion. When all else fails, we will fall back on discussing old movies. The majority of the group seems to favor older movies as opposed to the newer genre of comedy, superhero or zombie movie themes. Ask any of us how many times we have seen one of the Dirty Harry or John Wayne movies and it would probably shock you. Jerry usually leads our movie discussions due to his prodigious ability to remember details from every movie he has ever seen. As noted above, he is a walking encyclopedia of the old classics.
Well, as Porky Pig would say “Th-th-th-that’s all folks.”
“It was among farmers and potato diggers and old men in workhouses and beggars at my own door that I found what was beyond these and yet farther beyond that drawing room poet of my childhood in the expression of love, and grief, and the pain of parting, that are the disclosure of the individual soul.” — Lady Gregory
Aging Capriciously 