By CHUCK OFFENBURGER

DES MOINES, Iowa, March 9, 2025 — I’m back, kind readers. At least I think I am.

The only thing I’ve written in the past month was my older sister Sue Offenburger Polk’s obituary, and actually I co-authored that with our younger sister Chris Offenburger Werner.

Meantime, I’ve been caretaker-in-chief for my wife Mary Riche, who is now a third of the way through a 30-day recovery to restore her sight in her left eye, after successful retinal repair surgery – which seems to me to be an almost miraculous procedure. A cadre of Mary’s great friends have kept us well-stocked with fresh, nutritious and delicious meals.

And Mary has been caretaker-in-chief for me. I underwent cataract removal surgeries on both my eyes. And I have recently undergone two monthly infusions of antibodies to boost my immune system, which has been compromised since I had a stem cells transplant 15 years ago. The infusions make me feel stronger and better, and were really helping me avoid the persistent colds I’ve endured in the last couple of winters.

Mary Riche and Chuck Offenburger (Photo by Andrew Offenburger)

But two weeks ago, “Influenza A” absolutely dropped me, despite an early diagnosis and treatment with a wonder drug, Tamiflu. With constant hydration and a lot of rest, I recovered well enough to attend my sister’s memorial services Feb. 27-28 in Omaha.

With all of that, I missed two weeks’ worth of meetings of my Bean Boyz gatherings at Greene Bean Coffee in Jefferson. It was the longest I’ve been away from Greene County since I moved there 21 years ago.

All of the above gave me two new thoughts: 1) Now 77 and the elder in my line of Offenburgers, I am indeed getting old. 2) Maybe we RicheBurgers should join the snowbirds and spend a month or so each winter in a warm-weather place.

Try as I did over the past month, I’ve just not been able to produce a column. Which is a little disturbing when you’ve been doing this for 60-plus years. Maybe, I thought, I’ve lost it. Maybe 10,000 columns is all any one of us is allowed.

But in the last couple of days, I’ve heard an old line ringing in my ears – something I’ve shared with several young journalists when they’ve had to deal with sudden challenges in their lives.

“Your column is like a lifeline,” I’ve told them. “When you’re a real writer, you write in good times, you write in bad times, you write all the time.”

And so I’m back on my beat, kind readers, and I hope you’ll stick with me a while longer.

I’ve been catching up on the news, and wow! I think I need to get back out there and find some reassurances that the state I’ve loved for 77 years is not being stolen from us. Ditto, this nation.

Let’s talk.

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You can comment on this column below or write the columnist directly by email at chuck@offenburger.com.