We're here!

Actually we've been here a few days--in our new location, that is. Guess it needs a pseudonym. Suffice it to say for now that it's in another New England state.

Packing up was crazy, as I knew it would be. Despite all my best efforts we were up half the night before the packers came finishing up. The movers were great, though, and loaded and unloaded with efficiency and good humor. Even the guys who had to trek up to the attic in my new house multiple times. Turns out the mover needed two trucks--not because I had too much stuff, but because I have so many books that it would've been too heavy for one truck! Go figure. One of the movers carrying in book boxes said "There sure is a whole lot of reading going on in this house!"

My new house is awesome. It's an old Victorian, and it's been well care for. The Kid quickly noted that we have a "cupboard under the stairs" and he claimed for his bedroom the room accessible directly by the back stairs. My only complaint is that I don't have enough storage space in the kitchen. The butler's pantry in my old house along with ample kitchen cabinets really spoiled me. And I don't really have enough furniture, but that is something to take care of over time.

So unpacking has gone slowly so far, but I need to pick up the pace because I actually start work on Tuesday. Not sure that reality has set in yet! I am excited and nervous and happy and scared, but I think that this is going to be a good place. They already gave us a warm welcome--and a delicious dinner--when we arrived Thursday evening.

If you've read here for long, you know that the last year and a half or so has been really difficult, but in the end it's all worked out. I left my previous position knowing that the work I'd done had been appreciated by the congregation, and knowing that I had built good relationships with parishioners, if not with my boss. And now I have a wonderful new position with lots of potential--lots of challenges to be sure, but lots of potential. I am so blessed to be here.

As I was packing I had lots of posts running through my head, triggered by things I found along the way, and things I chose to throw away (including my tenure file, my old syllabi, and most of my teaching materials.) Hopefully, some of those posts will actually get written.

But first I have more unpacking to do!

Random bits of PACKING!

~Five days before the movers come and I'm deep in the throes of packing--I think I've reaching that "it's all chaos" stage. It has to get better, right?

~The books are 99.5% packed and I even managed to give four big bags full to the library. Nonetheless I foresee a shortage of bookcases in my future since there are fewer built-ins both in my church office and in my new rectory.

~As I predicted, it's hotter than h*ll and the humidity is about 99%. Why do I always move in the summer?

~Because it's so hot (and because I hate packing) I stop every so often and go shopping for one more thing for the Kid to take to college. And every trip I say, "We're done now, right?" Remains to be seen if we're really done.

~I'm trying to weed through things that have accumulated, or worse, were moved before (sometimes more than once) when they shouldn't have been. Which slows the process because I take so many side trips down memory lane. But since it's so hot, sometimes that's okay.

~And I've spent a prodigious amount of time on FB--especially playing FarmVille which has to be the biggest.time.suck.ever but I keep right on playing. I guess I need some diversion.

~Remember the puppy? Well, after failing to make ANY decision when the offer was first made, I thought the deal was off. But this week the puppy and her current mom came to visit, and we may have worked a deal where I come get the puppy after I'm safely moved. I'm kind of excited about that.

~I'm getting excited about getting to my new church, too. And nervous. And scared. And happy. Really, I'm looking forward to it, but sometimes I don't think that the reality has set in. I'm going to be the rector!

~Stay tuned. I've vowed to write more and give the blog a new look once I get settled.

Celebrity sightings

~~but not by me....

I live in a relatively quiet place. It is a vacation destination, but people who vacation here tend to keep a pretty low profile and most celebs are pretty secluded. But a Very Prominent Family happens to live here as well, and today there is a funeral for a Very Important Person. So there are lots more celebrities around than usual. Among the Kid's friends there have been a LOT of celebrity sightings, including the governor of a bankrupt state, the world's richest TV host, a legendary blind singer, and the VPOTUS. Wow. I'm a bit envious, I must admit.

O the irony!

For as long as I've lived here I've lamented the lack of availability of locally grown produce in the summer. Yes, there is a farmer's market, but it takes place on a day of the week when it was absolutely impossible to get there because of work. Farms stands are few and far between, and until this year, CSAs were pretty rare, too.

Today the Kid and I went to Whole Foods--it's almost a hour's drive away, so we don't go there very often, but the Apple Store is there also and we went to get the Kid a new laptop to take to college (!) and since we were there anyway, I couldn't skip Whole Foods.

One of the things I like about WF is that they tell you where the produce comes from. I really appreciate that. I was eyeing tomatoes from Jersey and peaches grown in this state, and blueberries from Maine and Michigan, when to my great surprise I spied cabbages and potatoes from--yes, you guessed it--the very town I live in. Who knew?

It's sort of like living in Florida and only finding California oranges in the grocery store! Why can't there be more places selling locally grown produce RIGHT HERE?

Argh.

Sorting and filing

In some ways I'm a very organized person. But my organization tends to be internal, and the outside--well, chaos might be too strong, but there tends to be a bit of clutter, especially when it comes to things that need to be sorted and filed. I've tried to be better about it, but still--I just hate dealing with it.

A small metal filing cabinet has moved around with me for the past 20+ years, holding bits of this and that. Every so often I'll take a stab at getting files in order, but it's hit or miss. And since we've lived here, I've filed papers on a shelf instead. Finally last night I decided the filing cabinet--rusty, dented, and not very attractive--had to go, so I unloaded its contents and started going through them.

Of course, it was like opening Pandora's box. Yes, there were tax forms--many years worth, all neatly filed away. And there were birth certificates and shot records and report cards from years gone by. A random paper I wrote my freshman year in college--on Southern food. (Don't ask why--I don't remember.)

Then there were the warranties for things I no longer own, the floppy disks that no computer can read anymore, old canceled checks, Mother's Day, graduation and birthday cards, a newspaper article about me when I graduated from college, random photos (the big box of photos is still upstairs, needing to be repacked!), receipts for who knows what--the flotsam and jetsam of my life.

Some of it was funny; some of it was painful--the divorce decree, the letter my dad wrote to each of us when he knew his cancer was terminal--which I ironically received the same day as my acceptance letter from seminary. An essay I wrote for the commission for ministry and my first ember letter to my bishop, along with his reply were tucked away, too.

I filled a big box with discards, shredded two big bags of papers, and reduced it all down to one neat waterproof file box. It's all in folders, but it wouldn't win any gold stars for great organization. And I don't think I ever will. Because here's the thing: Being able to file everything away into orderly folders, neatly labeled doesn't really match how my life is. It doesn't encompass the ambiguity, the ups and downs, the messy reality of my life. I expect my files, like my life, will always be a bit chaotic. But that's okay.

Random bits of "I'm on vacation now!"

~Even though I have tons of organizing and packing to do, I'm determined to have some vacation time. So yesterday morning I loaded up the car and took off for Vermont where I'll be on child care duty for a few days with the delightful Baby J who has grown so much since I saw her the first week of June that I can hardly believe it.

~Traffic was teh awful yesterday. Where I live, I expect delays at certain points, but oddly, the back-ups were in totally different places yesterday. But they were bad enough that my trip took a whole hour longer than it should have.

~Today I spent with WW, looking at car seats and seeing her new apartment and then attending the shower NSLS threw for her. Boy, are car seats more complicated (and expensive) than they were when the Kid was an infant.

~Alas, I did not leave rainy weather behind. There were torrential downpours off and on all afternoon. Really, all of New England is just going to float away...

~Three of NSLS's high school friends were at the shower this afternoon. They're all married or engaged, two of the four (counting NSLS) are moms, one is a mom of two. But in my mind I still see the giggling ninth graders I used to drive around, the cheerleaders and track runners I watched compete, the girls I saw off to the prom. Where has the time gone?

~The Kid stayed behind for a few days to work and spend time with his friends. Weird going off without him, but preparation for the weeks ahead when he will be going off on his own to college. He's taking the bus up to join me on Thursdsay, and next weekend we'll head off to Maine for a few days.

~ I have pictures to post, but ever since I got a newer version of Photoshop and Leopard I've been having trouble with pictures. I'm not sure exactly what is different, but I need to figure it out. Maybe while Baby J is napping this week...

~And now I should go to bed at a decent hour and store up som energy for baby-watching