Connections and Blooms

 Another week has zoomed by.  A week ago, I would have been on the road for a few hours.  And although I have had 2 naps this week, I hit the ground running when I got here.  Let me record a few snippets:

--I thought that most of the blooming season in the mountains was over, but the mountain laurel is in full bloom in a way that it wasn't two weeks ago.  There are still some dogwoods emerging.  And although it's not flowers, if I look at the tips of branches and plants, I see new growth emerging.

--I snapped this picture and called it "Flare Corona with Hydrangea and Mountain Laurel."  These poems are wonderful!

--My spouse knows I love hydrangeas, even though some people have told us that they're "old lady flowers."  Perhaps I've joined the old lady club?  But I have loved them from my youth.

--I've seen drought charts which include western North Carolina, but it's hard to believe them.  We've had rain two nights this week.  It's been lovely to sleep with the window open, hearing the patter of rain through the night.

--It's been a week of many Zoom calls:  the HR person at Spartanburg Methodist College, the person in the Southeast Synod of the ELCA who will be my mentor for my internship, the meeting with the church in Bristol where I will be the Synod Appointed Minister for the next 9 months, and a Bible study group from my Florida church.  I am glad I don't have to do these kinds of meetings all day, day after day.  But I'm grateful that I live in a time where I can meet with people without traveling vast distances.

--My spouse said, "You're going to a seminary in D.C., you're a candidate through the Florida-Bahamas Synod, you're part of a church in North Carolina, you're affiliated with the Lutheran seminary in South Carolina, and you'll be preaching at a church in Tennessee, while also having an internship with the Southeast Synod of the ELCA"--I interrupted to say, "And my parents' church in Virginia gave me a scholarship."

--I thought of his comment, and I thought of my experience last week at the seminary graduation activities.  I saw so many people that I knew from so many Lutheran contexts, and I often greeted people warmly as my brain raced to remember how I knew them:  retreats?  the spiritual direction certificate program?  my Lutheran undergraduate school?  On and on I could go.

--Today we will go to the church that is minutes away from our Lutheridge house, and we'll be part of the celebration of 60 years, which includes a barbecue lunch.  Yummm.  I will need to start telling people why we're about to disappear on Sundays--but I could still be part of the women's quilt group that meets every Wednesday (another old lady club signifier?  But I have loved quilting since my youth).