7/24/12 -- A Party and Preparation for Moving

The hardest part of leaving a place you have lived for a number of years is saying good-bye to the friends who have become part of your life.  It seems like we keep doing it over and over again.  You don't realize how many friends you have until it's time to say good-bye to all of them.  It won't do to miss anyone.

Pilgrim Christian Church

A Great Farewell Party

Last Saturday, some of the folks from Pilgrim Christian Church gathered to wish us well in our travels and in our new life.  PCC is the church where I was pastor for five or six years.  What a delight to see those dear people once more. 


An unexpected treat was to meet a couple of very special young women.  They are beautiful, grown up from the gangly children I knew.  They live well, free to question and seek out new possibilites for themselves. 

Nora and Sophie
with their parents and us

They announced to the group that their parents were not to blame for how they turned out -- I was, in my teaching and in the baptism class they attended for a year before I baptized them. 

I was pleased to take the blame, although I do think that their parents and the church community also contributed.  I am very proud of them both.

After I got hurt in 2004, I eventually had to resign pastoring that church.  I missed it terribly.  About the same time, I found the courage to go on FaceBook.  My motivation for opening my life to FB was to keep in better touch with my son and granddaughter. 

What surprised me was that within 24 hours, every one of the kids in those baptism classes found me and friended me.  I don't know how they found out I was on FB.  I was so pleased.  All the children that I baptized were special. I wish I could have seen each one and heard the story of their adventures.

The gathering was supposed to last from 3-8pm.  We left at nearly midnight.  People didn't want to quit talking, and neither did I.  Some folks wanted to come to the event and were not able to attend.  Please know that you -- all of you -- were missed. 

Some of the families posed with us for pictures.  Those are treasures to take with us.  It was great!  Special thanks to Gladys who hosted the event

When you have lived intimately with a congregation like that for several years, some part of them never leaves you.  My years with them, the time with them Saturday night felt like a very precious gift. 

Thank you, PCC, for those wonderful years.

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As for the present, we are packing.  And packing.  I am amazed at how much we have that has to go into boxes.  Big boxes and little boxes, odd-shaped boxes and square boxes.  We are creating a mountain of them in our extra bedroom.  

Maybe my nightmare is wrong.  I have a vision of the moving van guys hauling stuff out the door while we cram stuff into just one more box.  I don't think that's really going to happen.  It's looking good. I think we are going to make it.

So we are packing boxes to go on the van, but we're also organizing stuff to go in the trailer.  I know how to pack for a two or three week trip.  How do you pack for this kind of trip, "we'll get there when we get there?" 

We figure on washing clothes every 5-6 days, so that cuts down some on what we're taking.  Still, we have to take meds for 2-3 months.  Seems like it goes on and on.

If we were just going to full-time it for a few months it would be easy.  As it is, not knowing how long we're going to live on the road, planning is more problematic.  Of course, we have to take the toys we can't live without (laptop, tablet, small game system for me and, of course, a Scrabble board).  

We also have to take things along that we don't want to send on the van -- important files, stuff like that.  We have to be able to pay bills along the way.  Right now we're just making piles. None of that stuff gets packed until the last minute.

Our travel trailer, waiting to be packed

There sure are a lot of things to think about.

The trailer is ready to go, after  a couple of days at the trailer-hospital at "Camping World" in Madison WI, 75 miles west of home.  Next week, the car will get a once over and health maintainence check.  If we have problems with our rig on the road, it won't be for lack of preparation.

I wonder what we are going to forget... 

It's getting close now.  I can't believe we're really going to get to take this trip.  The three of us get along well, and I know we're going to have a great time!

I'm so glad you're along for the ride!