Dear Mom, Happy 86th!

    Hi. I thought of writing something yesterday, but I am doing it now. The day after your birthdate. You were born the last of five young children, when both your mom and dad were 44 years-old. In the summer of 1940, when the Great Depression was about to end because the Germans were marching across Europe and the Japanese were a few more seasons from bombing Hawai'i.

    Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and raised in Hanover, rural parts south of Boston.She became a nurse and went to West Africa to help save the world. She met my dad, and they married in Freetown, and then us kids came along in Bloomington, Indiana. Where you lived most of the rest of your life, with the exceptions of vacations and the Mayfield work trips and the two missions to southeast Asia. She was close to her sisters, especially Alma. Alma, I just found out (when I talked to Terry), had a serious health condition lately, and spent a week in the hospital and is doing okay now. 

    Alma is hanging in there, age 89 or so.

    You liked to cook, but you also liked to eat out. And you could be particular at restaurants, asking the waiter or waitress to take the food back and get it better. Not always, just enough to be memorable. You loved antiques. You liked to gamble. Certain games, maybe blackjack and roulette? You would go to some horse and dog races, too. The dogs were somewhere near Boston, I think. I would stay at aunt Alma's and try to watch some shows, or read some books. 

    You had me over to dinner a lot, on Sundays or Thursdays, mostly.

    It was nice to visit with you when I moved back to Indiana for two years. It was nice to talk to you when I was in Indiana... When I was 27 and 28, and then later when I was in Afghanistan, but diagnosed with the terminal cancer.

    You stayed in good spirits.

    I think that you tried to spend some good times with the grandchidren, but there were some down times, too.

    You hung in there.

    Today is July 11, Saturday. The days have slide by since I wanted to write this. I will knock it out.

    It is nice to speak to you, one way or another. In prayers or songs, in stories or jokes.

    I met a Peace Corps service person last night, named Wendy; I got a chance to tell her about you in Togo and Sierra Leone, and later Cambodia and Indonesia.

    Jenny, your daughter, said maybe you felt more at home in some of those poor places. Not everything is accounted for by wealth, but it creates different environments and cultures, for sure.

    You were sweet and a blessing in all cultures. Especially mine, as a son with you close and far.

    You were my darling angel mom; not perfect. Always loving. I miss you, and I wish you a happy week, month, year.

    I could go on more; it is easy to speak to and speak about my mom. A lively, colorful, "empathic" as decribed by others, person, who I will always love and cherish.

    Here, there, and into eternity.

    Love you. Glad you made the trip, and all the trips.

    

 Forgotten Places, Unthought of Races

    Lots of islands out there, many of them habited, that no one thinks of most of the time. Georgian Islands and few more where I thought I could leave my remains. In the southern ocean or parts of the souther Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific. Reunion, and Mauritius.

    Nauru, Tuvalu, and many more. The Chuuk Islands and Micronesia, Federated States.

    The northern most islands of Canada, big and small. Outer and inner wastes of Siberia.

    I try to remember you.

 The Nationals Can Play! With Some More Pitching, Maybe...

    They can score. One of the best teams in the majors. Abrams made the All-Star team, but they have some other pretty decent hitters and runners. 

    They are over .500, 47-45. Some relievers have blown some wins, and Nunez blew a game by not running hard. That was a couple of months ago; I think he learned his lesson.

    Their defense is okay. Some of the guys will hit better throughout the year, I think. Bring their batting averages up. And win, more?

    My daughter, in college, says I write too much about baseball. Yes, that is possible. But it is better than football, or soccer.

    Terrible rules. Not American enough. Off sides? Get out. The minutes? The delays? Faw and fie upon them.

    Anyway, go Nats.

    Baseball is cool.

250 Years

 Maybe I Have Covid

    But I get some days off.

I should have written more. About our nation's past, present, and hopefully future glory.

But we are thankful for our birthday as a country that has been this successful, this long.

The U.S.'s Last Four Wars - Plus Secondary Ones

    I was discussing, with a friend, about the last conflicts of the most powerful country in the world. We, the United States.

 What have they been?

    Arguably: 

    Iran -2026

    Afghanistan - 2001-2021

    Iraq - 2003-2010

    ISIS- (Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan) 2014- 2019

    Secondary terrorist wars - Somalia, Yemen, and other African and Asian countries - 2001 to present, 2026

    Was Samuel Huntington right about the Clash of Civilizations thesis, where the cultural differences of the hardline or devout Muslims of sharia would be the dividing dichotomy from the modern, secular west?

    We could argue that the wars that we have fought have pointed to that.

    Thinking about it. Evidence of yes and no.

 Welcome to Division One, FBS - Top Tier Football, North Dakota

There are states that do not not have Football Bowl Series teams, even though there are 138 teams across the country. 

They are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Montana, and Alaska. Seven.

North Dakota has been removed from the list because North Dakota State has been added to the Mountain West, as that conference added them and Northern Illinois to bolster their numbers while the PAC 12 has been reconstituting itself with former Mountain West schools.

One state wonders? Hawai'i, Wyoming, Minnesota, Connecticut... And New Jersey. And Delaware. I think all the rest has two or more, or up to 10. Like Texas and Ohio.

What a game. 

Go IU. BYU.

 Winning and Losing

    We want to be champions of our own stories. Sometimes we are the goats, the losers. Overall, we wish to be the heroes of the arcing narrative, from beginning to end. Birth to death, we wish to be the protagonists. 

    Sometimes we are the enemies of our own stories. We can ruin our own paths. But the point is to eventually overcome and be the winner.

    In life we can have regrets and embarrassment in past trials and blows, times where we failed. But did we recover and come back, stronger, wiser, better than before?

    Through faith in higher powers that works.

    But in reality we can fall and not recover so well.

    When we disappoint our parents, our teachers, our bosses, our children, our spouses.

    When we see a light or a spark or a smile of love and acceptance that was once there but it has gone away.

    We try to get it back.

    To win, to prevail.