Frankfurt to Des Moines: Goodbyes and New Beginnings

By Lapel Stick

So here’s how my week went:

We get back from Ibiza, literally still unpacking, and then—boom. Aunt Mabel dies.

Flights booked. Des Moines.

Did I see that coming? Kind of. Did I expect to be throwing funeral clothes into a suitcase 48 hours after getting home? No.

And here’s the thing—we weren’t close. She was my mom’s older sister, loud as hell, opinionated, but also somehow always handing you food. Could roast you for your life choices while simultaneously forcing a slice of pie into your hands. Classic.

So, yeah. We went. Not out of deep grief, but because… sometimes you just show up.

Des Moines: The Land That Time Forgot

Stepping off the plane? Time warp.

Nothing’s changed. At all.

  • The church: same small-town, edge-of-nowhere Midwest scene.
  • The people: same relatives, same smiles that don’t quite reach their eyes.
  • The conversations: some mildly passive-aggressive commentary disguised as chit-chat.

Sarah, bless her, somehow charms her way through all of it, while I’m just standing there trying to remember people’s names.

We go through the motions, swap a few stories, do the whole nostalgic diner stop (yes, the burgers are still greasy as hell), and then? We bolt.

No drawn-out goodbyes. No unnecessary lingering. Straight to the airport.

Next stop? Amsterdam.

Because that makes so much sense.

From Funeral to AI Ethics: A Hard Pivot

We land at Schiphol, running on four hours of sleep and bad coffee.

And suddenly, we’re at an AI conference.

One second I’m in a funeral home, and the next? I’m in a glass-and-steel building surrounded by tech founders and corporate types, all debating whether AI is making the world better or just finding new ways to screw it up.

At some point, someone drops this stat: global AI energy consumption has doubled in the last three years.

And I just sat there thinking—okay, so are we actually doing something here, or just burning through electricity at record speed and calling it “progress”?

And, let’s be honest—half the people in that room would absolutely throw their ethics out the window if it meant cashing out for a billion-dollar IPO. No judgment, just facts.

Amsterdam Saved the Trip

If there’s one thing we did right? We took time to just exist in the city.

  • Canal walks.
  • Van Gogh Museum.
  • Stroopwafels. An unholy amount of stroopwafels.

And then there was this dinner.

Tiny restaurant in Jordaan, candles everywhere, effortlessly cool staff. One of those places that just makes you feel like life is working out.

Halfway through the wine, Sarah just looks at me and goes, “Our week makes no sense.”

And yeah. That’s about right.

One day, we’re in a funeral home in Iowa. The next? Listening to some guy in a turtleneck argue about whether AI will eventually replace human creativity.

Life’s weird.

Back to Frankfurt, Back to Reality

By the time we got home, I was equal parts exhausted and wired.

  • The funeral already felt like a month ago.
  • The conference already felt outdated.
  • The only constant? I still haven’t quit smoking.

And yeah. Another lapel stick added to the collection.

Here’s to keeping up, moving forward, and pretending I have any control over the chaos.

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