I've been offline quite a bit this year. Another year of changes, as it has turned out. The big change is that I was invited to interview for an open Director of Faith Formation position at a parish two hours north of Elmira, in Macedon, NY, and I was offered the job. I accepted, but it meant a 3-week turn around on a move. Whew! That's not the fastest bug-out I've ever done - two weeks from interview to start date is my record (for the job at Cornell in 2005, NYS Move #2, incidentally).
Because God is in the details, I have friends from college who live in Palmyra (next door to Macedon) in a giant 1800s farmhouse they've renovated over the last 20 years, and they invited me to stay with them while I looked for an apartment. I moved in on August 1st, started my job August 5th, and tomorrow, September 6th, I'll move into my new apartment just up Rte. 31. How wonderful! But really, moving, AGAIN. The older I get, the harder it is to move. God certainly keeps me on my toes, and keeps me trusting in Him.
This is a move into a studio apartment, gleaming, brand new, with stackable washer/dryer, an enormous yard, very private, garage off the enclosed porch, all included. I'm looking forward to shedding more of my stuff to squeeze into the studio. Over the last three years, I've started to feel overwhelmed by my stuff. Some pieces I have because they were Mom's, or Aunt Stella's, or even Dad's. Some things I picked up along the way 'cause I thought they would be useful - and they were, for a while. But now is the time for weeding out and minimizing, not to be trendy, but to release the drag of carrying unneeded burdens.
This also reflects my inner process this year: weeding out the stuff of my heart and mind. The damaged and useless bits of stuff still hiding out in the corners of the attic, the shadowy remnants of attachments to people who hurt me deeply. While I don't think of those people all that often any more, God has seen fit to nudge me into a deeper acceptance, forgiveness, and thus freedom.
This past Labor Day weekend, I returned to the Land Where I Was Birthed (South Shore of Boston if you're not keeping track) and spent an incredibly awesome weekend with my family. I spent an hour and a half in the ocean on Saturday at Nantasket Beach and met a surfer dude in his 60s who let me kneel on his surfboard (that's as far as I got - it totally freaked me out that the tide was coming in and the waves got a little heavier than I was comfortable with -- but still! I was on a surf board!). I spent all day with my nephews and nieces on Sunday, had wonderful QT with my brother and his wife (and their dog) including hanging out with my brother as he built a new garden box and watching the cheesy 70s British sci fi show UFO in the evenings. I ate out a lot, drank some excellent Cosmos, and felt like I was actually on a vacation. After a summer of being shaken up from moving, time surrounded by my family's love and acceptance was exactly what I needed.
So I'm about to go to bed for the last time as a temporary resident at Chez Karen and Eddie. Tomorrow will see the beginning of the next exciting chapter of living with less stuff inside and out. I'm totally stoked.
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