Blogging will be light the next two days or so. Brittany is on duty for serving 11:30 Mass, then we’ll be off to Iowa to look at more houses. I have a trunk full of boxes for the new office.
We have yet to uncover a person or family to rent the existing home. It looks almost certain I’ll be leaving the women of the household behind when I start my new position at the end of this month. While there is hope some tenant will pop into our laps (more accurately our rental agency’s lap) I’m not hopeful that’s going to happen on the ideal timetable. If it does, wonderful.
Anita is not too happy with the prospect of separation. I don’t think it will be longer than a month at most. My current parish has offered to share me with the other parish if that would help with things. That may not be necessary, but my wife and I will have to figure out how to share the one car if I do go up by myself.
The new parish has my photo and brief bio up on the staff page of the web site. Lots of the job-related paperwork is done. I’ve signed off on the obligatory background check and my child-protection certification has been transferred to the new diocese. They’ve been asking me about my computer needs. The new pastor wants to implement Liturgy of the Hours in a significant way and I’ve been pondering that. My head is already in Iowa.
The departure seems to be long and drawn out. My spirit doesn’t feel like it’s in the old parish anymore. It is sad to be taking leave of some very fine friends. I’m mostly stiff upper lipping that part. But the job feels all wrong. This time of year I’m usually planning for the coming year: setting up the school Mass schedule, recruiting committee members and liturgy people, getting the music people together to review new music, brainstorming with staff on the coming year. None of that’s going on.
Usually I take a week or so off to celebrate the first few days of summer vacation with the young miss of the house. Her birthday lands on the last week of school, and she and I usually celebrate with a day at the water park. Then we need another day to recover from the sunburn.
She hasn’t mentioned it this year. She’s sharp enough to realize we haven’t done it, but she may be holding back on the request. Or maybe she’s preferring the company of her friends. Once we all get settled in Ames, we’ll have to do some serious dad & daughter things. Something lighter than packing rooms or doing yard work. Plus Brit can get started in the parish’s youth ministry. Our own youth minister left last Fall and a replacement wasn’t hired. In the new parish, it will be good to have more than liturgy activities for her. Getting out from under dad’s umbrella–that will be healthy. She’ll make new friends quickly.
Anita and I have gotten a bit of time together this week, with our daughter off to a sleepover the other night. Then we both got whacked with some 24-hour bug Thursday while she was gone. Real romantic, staying most of the day in bed, I guess. I missed a funeral at the parish and a building committee meeting. I went in on half-energy yesterday and all reported the funeral with two new sacristans went fine and the meeting did too. See? No longer needed.
The parish’s fundraising for the church addition was a 100% success. They’ve asked me to troubleshoot some aspects. I suggested they combine all sacristy functions (currently we have them in three different locations) to improve communication and centralize storage of most liturgical items. With construction starting in November and my replacement unhired, they’ll need to start planning for storage and temporary worship soon. I’m a bit worried they’re not seeing the landscape ahead, though I think my committees are ready to pitch in.
The next two days will be fun. I love looking at homes. Anita and I have seven nice ones picked out. I have my eye on one just under a mile from the church. Two daily mile-walks: wouldn’t that be a great way to stay active? Other homes are closer to the downtown area, and all but one are within two miles of church. The bank has pre-approved our loan, pending a 12-month lease for the Kansas City house. So assuming the real estate clouds clear, we could be good to go within a few weeks to two months. That will feel good.
Meanwhile, we deal with the uncertainty. I know many other families have worries far more grave than this. In comparison, this is a little bump.
Catholic Sensibility 