She Wants to Flee

    Sometimes I feel that she wants to be anywhere,

    But with me.

    That is okay, I guess.

    She loves the moon, and the stars, and the outdoors.

    She craves the air, and the night, or the day, and the sights.

    She needs the outside, and its freedom, and promise.

    That is okay. That is great.

    It is a large part of what makes her, her.

    As long as she comes back, I cannot complain.

    Too much.

The Young Single Adult Branch of Bloomington in the late 1990s, Going on Part II

 The Young Single Adult Branch of Bloomington in the late 1990s, Going on Part II

    Some of us moved to Indiana newly in the fall of 1997. I was back from a five year stint in mostly Utah, although some great stays in Chile and the Holy Land. Who else came with me that fall? John and Trevor Irwin, the contrasting brothers from Hurricane, Utah. The smart one could not find the address of where to return his rental truck, and circled the whole beltway of Indianapolis to finally get it back to where it belonged.

    Who else? David A. had gotten there some months before me, think. Paul Schumann had been there a year or so, maybe? He would be a graduate student who would introduce Ann (later A.) to David A., who would marry and go one to have four children together.

    Tricia Nagel joined the church that fall of 1997, and eventually married Jared Barker. Jared came back from the very wet mission in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. He did well in marrying Tricia. 

    Who else did we have? Jared Asay, James White, Liz Wood, Rhea Le Master, Dave Hawkins and his sister: I cannot recall her name! Megan Knight, Zlota, of Czech Republic. Tara Tribble. Chris Arick. He joined the Church (of Jesus Christ), our Young Single Adult Ward. We were good sized and growing. Julie Taylor, Sandy Padron, Kaaren Saafsten, Margeret Gingrich. There were more. 

    Ben Sweeney, Tim Young? Andre Snyder, Darxavia Stephens, Kristen Clark...

    To be continued...

The Young Single Adult Branch of Bloomington in the late 1990s, Going on and ...

 The Young Single Adult Branch of Bloomington in the late 1990s, Going on and ...

    Caitlin Shirts!

    Nicole Nichols!

    Her brother Eric!

And on...

    Real names, real people, real times, the end of the 20th century.

    A 19th century restored religion bridging into the the 21st...

    In the centralized state of Indiana.

    Stay tuned for more, dear readers. Should I used all the real names? Maybe not all...

 Nimit Moore of Mali - Gone Too soon in the Wilder Sahara

    I watched "Out of Africa" with my wife last night. Made in the middle 1980s. I think that it won some Oscars back then. Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. Not bad. It shed light on parts of Kenya, and things between Europeans and Africans in the 1910s. Thought provoking, my wife commented. Yes. The local ethnic groups with their particular cultures and differences. She, as well as I, were interested in the dynamics and interests of the characters of the story. The woman, the man. The things.

    This morning I was thinking about her, my wife, in Morocco, interacting with many displaced nationals of French-speaking Niger. I think that there may have been some people in Ceuta, (Sebta), Morocco, enclave of Spain, from Mali as well.

    Nimit was from near Gao, Mali; perhaps within 50 miles of that town. Around 1984 ABC television did a spotlight of the drought and malnutrition occurring in Mali. An Indianapolis family adopted a boy that they saw on TV, Mohammad. He was Tuareg; later he wished to have his best friend come to him, so the Moore family of Bloomington adopted him. (Later they acquired another boy from Mali, Adam.)

    Things went well for a while. I met Nimit at my Scout Camp in rural Jackson County, Maumee, when I was 15, that first summer he was in the U.S. We were asked to clean some dishes in the mess hall kitchen. I remember being interested in his newness and the novelty of his change of lifestyle. He was kind of cool, as the local paper explained. I had read up on him. Years before the Internet.

    My parents lived in West Africa. Togo and Sierra Leone. Some things about the continent and the peoples there spoke to me. Later, people I knew like Joseph Hill and Robert Bogh had further, deeper experiences and lessons there. Greater West Africa. In Sierra Leone, Senegal, and into Mali. And other lands. I know a good deal of people, including the natives themselves, of most of the nations of Africa. Quite a place.

    I saw Nimit again after my South American mission in the summer or fall of 1992. Maybe he was a freshman? He was three years younger than me, as I see it based on ages mentioned in articles. He had plans, and went through with them, to set up tours of his home country.

    

    It all went tragically awry when he brought his American family there in January 2001. A local tribesman, perhaps resentful or jealous of Nimit, shot and killed him. A long rifle, I presume, to Nimit's forehead. The man was never charged.

    Articles celebrate and lament the life of Nimit.

    I do that here, now. Blessed to have known him. He inspired me, and many others.

    Africa, with its billions, living and dead, has done more good to the world than bad.

    Nimit was among the best of them.

    We thank God for him. His memory will live on.

 Jorbit Vivas Loses the Nats the Game!

    Ouch. If he had run out his grounder in the 10th inning the Nationals would have won at home. But he slowed down. The inning was over. The game went on, and the Nats lost in 12, seven to six.

    Ouch.

    Ay yai, yai. Jorbit. Hard to live this one down.

    Mental errors can happen, and cost games, but not like this...

    The Nationals are doing well, but have lost some winnable games.

    Let's improve on this. Go Nats.

Jealousy, Coveting; Feelings to Temper or Phase Out

    This past year maybe I have felt jealousy or pangs of want more than any other year. In a sample of fifty plus years, I have some perspective. It must be my circumstances, which does have to do with my age. Age income, job or jobs, family relationships. Satisfaction for my personal account, or satisfying others close to me.

    Health. Economic comfort or success. Or the lack of it.

    Not pleasing your family members, disappointing them or your colleagues or bosses.

    Wondering if God is good with you, which you know you are with Him, as He has promised, but wondering if He is teaching you in very humbling ways. Patience and hard lessons.

    Paradoxes.

    Health trials and aging, work issues and not controlling so many factors of what we would consider a better or blessed life.

    Failure. Disappointment. Dissatisfaction.

    Sounds negative. It is.

    We have to choose to be grateful, to count our blessings. To not be jealous of others, or covet what they have.

    We can be jealous of the care of those that we are linked to. How much they think of us, appreciate us, love us, like us.

    Yeah.

    That is a tough way to to be jealous.

    Some call it low confidence in oneself, or low self-esteem.

    A guy killed himself last year and claimed that his wife did not like him.

    What a terrible feeling.

    People who end their own lives do not feel appreciated, I am quite sure of that.

    I can think of a few.

    Ben. Rob. Robert. (Maybe it was an accident). Nicholas. And others.

    Low sense of others caring for them.

    Yep.

    Need to phase out the negativity, and build up how we see ourselves and how we think of ourselves, and how others see us.

    Drop jealousy and build up your life.

    More than God thinks highly of you. You and Him together.

    

 Men's Indiana Basketball 2027 may be a Year

    The transfer portal may deliver to the once heralded program in 2026-27, now mired in mediocrity and... frustrated hopes of yesteryear. The new incoming players may deliver some success. It looks good on paper. But then there are tried and true ballers like Purdue. Or Michigan State.

    The new coach, now in his second year, brought in some talent his first year, including his son, a prolific scorer, but they were not good enough to make it into the Big Dance. Michigan, hail the victors. At least the Big Ten finally won it all. Since I was a younger guy trying to advance in the world...

    The world.

    There is me, and there are the universities that I hold allegiance of. And there is me, which can be more disappointing than these teams of young men that are more separated from reality than I am.

    We are bombing Iran, gas and prices are abnormally high, Israel is hitting and killing folks in Lebanon, now after Gaza Strip. Ukrainians are killed in the big land grab there by Russia. Apparently Sudan is atrocious, but not enough people care.

    Life is okay locally, but some people have died. Life and death march on.

    There has been the amazing dream-like IU football team, there have been personal struggles, a few successes, our community, our nation. Things that matter more, more pertinent to me, my wife, my kids, my loved ones.

    Then there is the basketball team. The young men.

    We have a seven-two guy via SMU and Turkey, a guy from Duke, and other schools.

    One player, Lindsey (?), who comes via Texas A & M, then James Madison, then Villanova?

    Wow, and he is listed a sophomore? After three colleges? In three different regions and states?

    Huh. What a country traveler.

    IU has guards, forwards, a real seven foot center coming up. Welcome to the world of the cross-state rival, Purdue.

    Who knows? Things could happen by next March.

    We never stop dreaming of the hoop dreams.

    Can you remember? I can.

    Go IU.

    Fight, fight, fight.